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Series. No. 71. Dec, 1895. Monthly. Sub., $8.00. 
Sntered at Chicago Post Office as second-class matter. 



RAND, McNALLY & CO., Publishers 
Chicago and New York. 



REPRESENTATIVE FARMERS 
THE MOST EXTENSIVE FARMERS 
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f 



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A BOOK ON 



SILAGE 




Bl 

F^W/WOLL, 

Assistant Professor of Agricultural Chemistry^ University 
of Wisconsin. 




^.. y 



3 



\% 



WITH ILLUSTRATIONS. 



DEC 19 1895 



^'^Z-OM^- 



CHICAGO: 
Eand, McNally & Company. 
1895. 



Copyriglit, 1895. by Rand, McNally & Co. 



^ 
^ 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



Page 

Introduction, - - - - - - 7 

Chapter I.— Silage Crops, - - - - 13 

A. Indian Corn, - - - - - - 13 

Development of the Corn Plant, - - 13 

Varieties to be planted for the Silo, - - 19 

Methods of Planting Corn, - - - 23 

Thickness of Planting, - - - - 23 

Planting in Hills or in Drills, - - 27 

Sowing Corn Broadcast, - - - 28 

Preparation of Corn Land, - - - 29 

B. Clover, 30 

Time to Cut Clover for the Silo, - - 31 

C. Other Silage Crops, - - - - - 33 

Chapter II. — Silos, ----- 35 

General Considerations, -- - - - - 35 

Descriptions of Different Kinds of Silos, - - 48 

1. Pits in the Ground, - - - - 48 

2. Silos in Barns, - - - - - 49 

3. Separate Silo Structures, - - - - 55 

A. Wooden Silos, .... 55 

Circular Wooden Silos, - - - 60 

B. Stone or Brick Silos, - - - 73 

C. Grout Silos, - - . ! . .75 

D. Stave Silos, .... 77 

E. Metal Silos, 79 

F. Silo Stacks, .... 80 
Preservation of Silos, - - - - - 84 
Cost of Silos, 87 

(5) 



6 TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

Page 

Chapter III.— Silage, - - - - - 93 

Filling the Silo, 93 

Cutting the Corn in the Field, - - - 93 

Whole vs. Cut Silage, - . - - 98 

Siloing Corn " Ears and All. ' - - - 102 

The Filling Process, - - - - 105 

Fast or Slow Filling. - - - - 107 

Covering the Siloed Fodder, - - - 108 

Dry Silage, 113 

Clover Silage, . . . - - 115 

Freezing of Silage, . . - . . 117 

Cost of Silage, - - - - - 1 18 

Chemical Composition of Silage, - - - 120 

The Relation of Moisture and Acidity in Silage, - 121 

Sweet ®s. Sour Silage, - - - - 125 

Digestibiliti^ of Silage, - - - - 129 

Losses of Food Materials in the Silo, - - - 131 

Losses in Field-Curing Fodder Corn, - - 131 

Necessary Losses in the Silo, - - - 139 

Necessary Losses in Siloing Clover, - - 141 

Chapter IV.— Feeding of Silage, - - - 143 

Silage for IMilch Cows, - - - - 144 

Silage for Steers, ..... 151 

Silage for Horses, - - - - - 153 

Silage for Sheep, - - - - - - 156 

Silage for Swine, ----- 160 

Silage for Poultry, - - - - - 162 

Chapter V. — Comparison of Silage and other Feeds, 1 64 

1. Economy of Production, . - - - 164 

Corn Silage vs. Roots, ... - 164 

Corn Silage vs. Hay, - - - - 167 

Corn Silage vs. Fodder Corn, - - - 169 

2, Comparative Feeding Experiments, - - 170 

Corn Silage vs. Roots, .... 170 

Corn Silage vs. Dry Roughage, - - 174 

Chapter VI.— The Silo in Modern Agriculture, 180 



INTRODUCTION. 



The history of the silo dates back to an- 
tiquity. Ancient writers speak of the j)ractice 
of burying grain in underground pits to save 
it for future use or to hide it from their ene- 
mies, and the evidence at hand goes to show 
that semi-barbaric peoples in the different parts 
of the world have known and practiced this 
method. Green forage was i)reserved in the 
same way in the early history of the races of 
Northern Euroj^e, notably in Sweden and the 
Baltic provinces, where the uncertainty of the 
weather and the low summer temperature ren- 
dered difficult the proper curing of the hay. 
It was not, however, until toward the middle 
of the j)resent century that the practice of pre- 
serving green fodder by means of pits in the 
ground became more known. The method was 
especially practiced in central Europe, where 
large quantities of green leaves and tops were 
available every fall in the sugar-beet districts ; 
also green forage, such as Indian corn fodder, 
green clover, grass, etc., was treated by this 
method ; the fodder being placed in pits ten to 
twelve feet square, or larger, and as many feet 

(7) 



8 HS-TRODUCTION. 

deep ; these were often lined with wood, and 
puddled below and at the sides with clay. The 
fodder was spread evenly in the pits, and well 
trampled down ; when the pit was full the 
whole was covered with boards and a layer of 
earth one to two feet thick ; such pits would 
hold nearly ten tons when full. It is stated 
that the silage thus obtained "remained green 
and was well liked, even by sheep." This 
practice slowly spread; in the sixties over 2000 
tons of Indian corn was thus made into silage 
annually in a single small German province 
where dairying is an im^Dortant industry. 

One of the earliest advocates of the practice 
was M. Reiblen of Stuttgart, Germany. His 
communications on the subject gave an impetus 
to a large amount of experimentation and study 
along this line, both among German and French 
farmers. The French farmer, Auguste Goffart, 
whose name by most writers has been connected 
with the origin of silage, in 1877 published his 
book, "Manual of the Culture and Siloing of 
Maize and other Green Crox)s," which book is 
the first monograph on the subject ever pub- 
lished, and embodies the experience and results 
of twenty -five years' study of the problem by 
the author. While Goffart has no claim to 
priority in inventing the method of siloing 
green fodders, he perfected and applied it on a 
large scale, and, in publishing the results of his 
experience, brought the subject to the general 



INTEODUCTION. 9 



attention of farmers ; he may, therefore, justly 
be called the " Father of Modern Silage." 

The earliest mention of the subject in the 
United States was through accounts of Euro- 
pean experience in our agricultural ]3ress; the 
first complete description of the system was 
given in a paper on "The French Mode of 
Curing Forage," published in the Annual Re- 
port of the United States Department of Agri- 
culture for 1875. Goff art' s book was translated 
in 1879, by Mr. J. B. Brown of New York; 
This translation, as well as Dr. J. M. Bailey's 
' ' Book of Ensilage," published in 1880, brought 
the subject of silos and silage to the general 
attention of American farmers, and the system 
soon found its enthusiastic adherents in the 
United States, Since that time a wave of silo 
discussion and silo building has spread over 
the whole continent, and, as a result, we find 
to-day silos practically in every State in the 
Union, thousands upon thousands being filled 
each year with green corn and clover, furnish- 
ing farm animals with a palatable, succulent 
feed through the winter and spring. 

The earliest silo in the United States is said 
to be that built by Mr. F. Morris of Maryland, 
in 1876. The number of silos in this country 
at the present time can not be stated with cer- 
tainty in the absence of ofiicial or other reliable 
statistics on the subject; but careful estimates — 
which, from the nature of things, are but good 



10 INTRODUCTIOlSr. 

guesses — place the number at 60,000 or more. 
New York, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Wis- 
consin, and all other States where dairying is an 
imi^ortant industry, each have numbers ranging 
from several hundreds uj) into the thousands. 
We find silos in Maine and in California, in 
Washington and in Georgia, in the North and 
in the South. They are at the present most 
abundant where the dairy industry is of prime 
importance; but wherever stock raising is fol- 
lowed we may, in general, expect to find them. 
In England, where the silo was introduced 
a little later than in the United States, there 
were only six silos in 1882; but according 
to official statistics the number was 600 in 
1884, 1183 in 1885, 1605 in 1886, and 2694 in 
1887. No later statistics are available. English 
farmers have the reputation of being, and doubt- 
less, as a rule are, more conservative in the 
changing of old methods or in the adoption of 
new ones than their American cousins; we can 
not, therefore, consider the figures given an 
overestimate of the present number of silos in 
the United States. 

Unwarranted claims for silage were often 
made during the early days of the silo move- 
ment by enthusiasts in this country and 
abroad. A German agricultural writer pre- 
dicted the day as likely to come when dry hay 
would only be obtainable in drug stores. 
While no American writer or speaker, to 



INTRODUCTION". 11 

my knowledge, was so carried away by his 
enthusiasm, excessive statements and reports 
were, nevertheless, often indulged in, which 
could not stand the light of further experience 
and investigation. The process of siloing for- 
age, as we have seen, is x^ractically as old as 
hay-making ; but it is only during the last 
couple of decades that the process has been 
systematically studied and i^erfected. Thanks 
to the zealous work of the agricultural experi- 
ment stations in this and other countries, and 
to the mass of practical experience accumulated, 
our store of definite knowledge on the subject 
has been enriched, and many problems previ- 
ously standing in tlie way of success have been 
solved. The siloing of green fodders is no 
longer an experiment ; the results may be fore- 
told with as much certainty as in case of any 
industry depending on the action of ferments. 
With our present knowledge of the subject, we 
therefore believe that we can place the silo 
where it belongs and give it its due importance. 
The effort of the author will be to give, in the 
following pages, a plain and accurate account 
of the most important facts in connection with 
silage, and to furnish the beginner with such 
information concerning the building of silos, 
the making of silage, and its proper feeding, as 
will enable him to understand the important 
features of the method, and to adopt it in his 
system of farming. 



12 INTRODUCTION. 

A few definitions of the terms used in this 
book may be in order at this place. 

In the modern meaning of the word, a silo 
signifies any air-tight structure used for the 
preservation of forage in a succulent condition. 
The feed taken out of the silo is silage (form- 
erly and originally called ensilage). For the 
process of preserving fodders in a silo, several 
verbs are used by writers on agricultural topics 
and are given in our standard dictionaries ; 
among these the author prefers the verb, to 
silo ; we thus silo corn, clover, etc., and the 
product is corn silage, clover silage, etc. The 
term siloist, a farmer making and feeding 
silage, is occasionally met with, and has also 
sometimes been used in this book. The dis- 
tinction made by some writers between silage, 
the feed, and ensilage, the process by which 
silage is made, is one rarely met with outside of 
books. By common usage, the prefix en has 
now been dropj)ed in ensilage, the term silage 
having been generally ado^^ted by farmers and 
agricultural writers. 

According to American custom, the term 
corn, s]3oken of in this book, means Indian 
corn, or maize {Zea Mays), and corn silage, 
silage made from Indian corn ; fodder corn 
means the whole corn plant grown for forage, 
and corn fodder or corn sialics {stover), the 
husked plant grown for the sake of the ears. 



MAKING AND FEEDING SILAGE. 



CHAPTER I.— SILAGE CROPS. 

A. INDIAN CORN. 

Indian corn is, above all other plants, tlie 
main silage crop in our country, and is likely 
always to remain so. A book on silage for 
American farmers is therefore of necessity 
largely a description of the preparation of the 
corn crop for the silo, and the feeding thereof. 
In view of this fact, we shall discuss in the fol- 
lowing pages, first of all, the making and feed- 
ing of corn silage, and then take up other silo 
crops, according to their importance. 

Development of the Corn Plant. 

In order to obtain a correct idea of the corn 
plant, it is necessary to examine its life history 
somewhat in detail. A kernel of corn, planted 
in a sufficiently moist and warm soil, will 
sprout within four to six days, sending out the 
radicle, growing downward, and the plumule, 
from which the different organs of the plant 

(13) 



14 MAKING AND FEEDING SILAGE. 

gradually develop. The starch, albuminoids, and 
ash materials in the corn germ, and in the rest of 
the kernel, furnish the young plant with nour- 
ishment until it is sufficiently developed to 
draw uj^on the soil and the air for the elements 
required for the upbuilding of its structure and 
of the various organs essential to its life and to 
the reproduction of the species. 

The most exhaustive study of the life history 
of Indian corn has been conducted by the Ger- 
man scientist, Doctor Hornberger (published in 
1882). We shall here briefly give some of the 
main results of his investigation, bearing 
directly on the growth of Indian corn from the 
early stages till maturity. Analyses were 
made once every week; the plants analyzed on 
June 18tli were 6 to 7 inches high; the last sam- 
ple was taken on September lOtli, when the corn 
was almost ripe. The percentage composition 
of the dry matter of the different sam^^les w^as 
shown in the following table. 

We notice from this table that the comjDosi- 
tion of the dry matter of the fodder corn varies 
greatly with the season. The young plant is 
relatively rich in mineral matter, crude pro- 
tein, amides, and crude fat; it is relatively 
poor in crude fiber and in nitrogen- free extract 
(starch, sugar, etc.). The nitrogenous (flesh- 
forming) constituents predominate in the early 
stages of growth, and the non-nitrogenous 
(heat-producing) in the latter stages; thenutri- 



SILAGE CROPS. 



15 



tive ratio (i. e., the proportion between fiesh- 
forming and heat-producing nutrients), there- 
fore, widens as the plant develops. 

Percentage Composition op Dry Matter of Samples 
OF Fodder Corn. 





Per Cent 


Miu- 






starch 






Date. 


Water in 


eral 


Crude 


Crude 


Sugar, 


Crude 


Am- 




Samples 


Matter. 


Protein. 


Fiber. 


etc. 


Fat. 


ides. 


June 18.. 




9.49 


30.83 








9.80 


" 25.. 


89^27 


8.45 


28.17 


i7*82 


41 '.67 


3'.i9 


8.05 


July 2.. 


90.27 


7 74 


27.21 


21.06 


40.72 


3.02 


8.94 


9.. 


89.30 


8.35 


24.90 


22.78 


41.04 


2.29 


9.40 


" 16.. 


89.44 


8.15 


22.94 


22.92 


43.34 


2.26 


8.18 


" 23.. 


88.37 


6.35 


17.32 


24.43 


49.60 


2.03 


6.05 


" 30.. 


88.09 


6.02 


15.14 


24.95 


51.41 


2.07 


5.26 


Aug. 6.. 


88.25 


5.58 


13.12 


26.23 


53.23 


1.55 


5.05 


" 13.. 


88.07 


5.31 


12.16 


26.26 


54.55 


1.28 


4.06 


" 20.. 


86.02 


4.83 


10.71 


25.62 


57.33 


1.18 


4.08 


" 27.. 




4.72 


10.45 


25.19 


58.15 


1.05 


4.57 


Sept. 3.. 




4.30 


10.08 


23.37 


60.45 


1.43 


3.89 


" 10.. 


soils 


4.29 


9.67 


22.63 


61.52 


1.60 


2.80 



The percentages of water, ash, protein, and 
amides decrease, and those of nitrogen -free ex- 
tract and crude fiber increase as the x^lant 
grows older. The changes occurring in the 
composition of plants during their growth, in 
the majority of cases, follow this general law; 
it will, therefore, not be necessary to give re- 
sults as to the changes in the composition of 
other silage crops with increasing age of the 
plants. 

Considering next the total quantities of food 
materials found in fodder corn by Hornberger, 
at the different stages of growth, we have the 
following table: 



16 



MAKING AND FEEDING SILAGE. 



Yield op Food Ingredients, in Grams, * 





Green 
Wt.of 






1000 Plants Contained 








Crude 




Starch 






DATE. 


one 


Dry 


Ash. 


Protein 


Crude 


Sugar 


Crude 


Am- 




plant. 


Matter. 






Fiber. 


etc. 


Fat. 


ides. 

15.3 
40.6 


June 18. . . 




.16 
.50 


14.8 
42.6 


48.1 
142 






" 25... 


4.7 


89.8 


210 


16.1 


July 2... 


21 


2.1 


161 


566 


438 


847 


62.8 


186 


" 9... 


39 


4.1 


342 


1020 


933 


1681 


94. 


385 


" 16... 


78 


8.3 


674 


1898 


1896 


3585 


187 


677 


'* 23... 


161 


18.8 


1190 


3249 


4581 


9301 


380 


1136 


'* 30... 


276 


32.8 


1978 


4972 


8194 


16884 


679 


1727 


Aug. 6... 


468 


55.0 


3069 


7215 


14420 


29266 


851 


2780 


" 13... 


565 


67.4 


3576 


8192 


17692 


36746 


865 


2735 


" 20... 


591 


82.6 


3991 


8S48 


21164 


47357 


974 


3369 


" 27... 




108.7 
121.2 


5131 
5215 


11369 
12218 


27394 
28311 


63232 
73247 


1143 
1729 


4970 


Sept. 3... 




4722 


*' 10... 


eii 


119.4 


5120 


11554 


27023 


73473 


1906 


3245 



*1,000 grams equal 2.2 lbs. avoirdupois. 

Professor Ladd, in 1889, in a very exhaustive 
study of the corn x)lant, analyzed fodder corn 
cut at five different stages of growth, from full 
tasseling to maturity. The results obtained 
will nicely supj)leinent the x^receding data. 

Chemical Changes in the Corn Crop. 



Yield ter Acre. 



Tae- 

seled, 

July 30. 



Pounds 

Gross Weight 18045 

Water in Crop 16426 



Silked. I Milk, 'Glazed, 
Aug. 9. Aug. 21 Sept. 7 



Dry Matter 

Ash 

Crude Protein 

Crude Fiber 

Nitrogen-free Extract 

(starch, sugar, etc). 

Crude Fat 



1619 
138.9 
239.8 
514.2 

653.9 

72.2 



Pounds Pounds 
25745 32600 
22666 27957 



Pounds 
32295 
25093 
7202 
302.5 
643.9 
872.91262.01755.9 



3078 

201.3 

436.8 



4643 
232.2 

478.7 



1399.3 2441.3 

167.81 228.9 



4239.8 
260.0 



Ripe, 
Sept. 23 



Pounds 

28460 

20542 

7918 

364.2 

677.8 

1734.0 

4827.6 
314.3 



The data given in the preceding tables show 
how rapidly the yield of food materials in- 



SILAGE CROPS 



17 



creases witli the advancing age of the corn and 
also that the increase daring the later stages 
of growth comes largely on the nitrogen-free 
extract (starch, sngar, etc.). A nnmber of 
American experiment stations have determined 
the increase during the stages previons to 
matiiritv. with the average results shown in the 
following computation: 

Increase in Food Ingredients from Tasseling to 
Ripeness. 









Gain in per cent 






Stage of Maturity. 


between first and 




Varietv. 




last cutting. 


EXPERI-NtEN'T 




■- - - ., 


H 


Station. 




First 


Last ^^-g^s^" 


^ fS 






Catting. 


Cutting. 5^ ^ = ^;^ 


It 


Coruell,X.Y. 


Pride of the 








North Bloom 


Mature 150 


90129 


169 


( ( 


Pride of th -l 


Xearlv 








North....' 


mature -217 134 374! 300 


Geneva, X.Y. 


King Philip. Tasseled 


Mature 389183 335 


462 


Xew Hamp . 


Av. of4Var.' 


Glazed 112 50 84 


130 


Peunsvlvania 


Av.oflOVar. 


Mature 155 






Vermont. 


Av. ofSVar. 


Glazed 122 50 






" ; " i Bloom 

1 


( ( 


,204| 81 




Averages of 


all trials 


193 98 230 


265 















We thus find that the largest amount of food 
materials in the corn crop is not obtained until 
the corn is well ripened. When a corn x^lant 
has reached its total growth in height it has, 
as shown by the results given in the last table, 
attained onlv one- third to one-half the weight 
of dry matter it will gain if left to grow to 
maturity ; hence we see the wisdom of post- 
poning cutting the corn for the silo, as in 



18 



MAKING AND FEEDING SILAGE. 



general for forage purx^oses, until late in the 
season. 

The tables given in the preceding, and our 
discussion so far, have taken into account the 
total, and not the digestible components of the 
corn. Early German digestion work goes to 
show that the digestibility of i3lants decreases 
as they grow older ; the following average 
digestion coefficients for green corn, obtained 
in American digestion ex^Deriments, embody 
all work done by our experiment stations on 
this point up to date ; the computation is made 
by Professor Lindsey of Massachusetts experi- 
ment station. 



Digestion Coefficients for Green Dent Fodder Corn. 



Stages op Growth. 

Immature 

In milk 

Glazing 

Mature 



No. of 


Dry 


Crude 


Ciude 


N-free 


Trials. 


Matter. 


Proteiu 


Fiber. 


Extract 


11 


68 


66 


67 


71 


9 


70 


61 


64 


76 


9 


67 


54 


51 


75 


4 


65 


51 


55 


72 



Ether 
Extract 

68 

78 
78 
73 



It will be noticed that there is a slight decrease 
in the digestibility of the dry matter and a 
marked decrease in that of crude protein and 
crude fiber with the greater maturity of the 
fodder. The preceding trials were made with 
different lots of fodder, so that they can only be 
compared on account of the fairly large number 
of trials made in each group. 

Results of other trials corroborate the con- 
clusion drawn that older jDlants are somewhat 



SILAGE CROPS. 19 

less digestible than young plants. There is, 
however, no such difference in the digestibility 
of the total dry matter or its comx^onents as 
is found in the total quantities obtained from 
plants at the different stages of growth, and the 
total yields of digestible matter in the corn will 
therefore be greater at maturity, or directly 
before this time, than at any earlier stage of 
growth. Hence we find that the general prac- 
tice of cutting corn for the silo at the time when 
the corn is in the roasting stage, is good science 
and in accord with our best knowledge on the 
subject. 

Another reason why cutting at a late period 
of growth is preferable in siloing corn is found 
in the fact that the quality of the silage made 
from such corn is, as we shall see later on, 
greatly better than that obtained from green 
immature corn. 

Varieties of Corn to be Planted for 
the Silo. 

The varieties to be planted for the silo must 
differ according to local conditions of climate, 
soil, etc. The ideal silage corn, according 
to Shelton, is a variety having a tall, slender, 
short-jointed stalk, well eared, and bearing an 
abundance of foliage. The leaves and ears 
should make up a large percentage of the total 
weight, and the yield per acre should be heavy. 
The lower leaves should keep green until the 



20 MAKING AND FEEDING SILAGE. 

crop is ready to harvest, and it is desirable to 
have the plant stool well and throw out tall 
grain-bearing suckers. A silage variety should 
mature late, the later the better, so long as it 
only matures, as a long-growing, late-maturing 
sort will furnish much more feed from a given 
area than one that ripens early. 

In the early stages of siloing corn, in our coun- 
try, the effort was to obtain an immense yield 
of fodder per acre, no matter whether the corn 
ripened or not. Large yields were, doubtless, 
often obtained with these big varieties, although 
I doubt that the actual yields ever came up to 
the claims made. Bailey's Mammoth Ensilage 
Corn, " if planted upon good corn land, in good 
condition, well matured, with jiroper cultiva- 
tion," was guaranteed to produce from forty 
to seventy -five tons of green fodder to the acre, 
' ' j usf right for ensilage. ' ' We now know that 
the immense Southern varieties of corn, when 
grown to an immature stage, as must neces- 
sarily be the case in Northern States, may con- 
tain less than ten per cent of dry matter, the 
rest, more than nine-tenths of the total weight, 
being made up of water. This is certainly a 
remarkable fact, when we remember that skim- 
milk, even when obtained by the sei)arator pro- 
cess, will contain nearly ten per cent of solid 
matter. 

In speaking of corn planted so as to be cut 
for forage at an immature sta.ge, Professor 



SILAGE CEOPS. 



21 



Robertson of Canada said, at a Wisconsin 
Farmers' Institute, '' Fodder corn sowed broad- 
cast does not meet the needs of milking cows. 
Such a fodder is mainly a device of a thought- 
less farmer to fool his cows into believing that 
they have been fed, when they have only been 
filled up." Tlie same applies with equal 
strength to the use of large, immature Southern 
varieties for fodder, or for the silo, in Northern 
States. 

In comparative variety tests with corn, 
Southern varieties have usually been found to 
furnish larger quantities per acre of both green 
fodder and total dry matter in the fodder, than 
the smaller Northern varieties. As an aver- 
age of seven culture trials. Professor Jordan 
thus obtained the following results at the 
Maine experiment station. 



Comparative Yields of Sout] 
Field Corn as Grown in 


HERN Corn and Maine 
Maine, 1888-1893. 




Southern Corn. 


Maine Field Corn. 






Dry 

Substance. 


Digestible 
Matter. 




Dry 

Substance. 


Digestible 

Matter. 




Per 
Cent. 


Lbs. 


Per 
Ct. 


Lbs. 


Per 

Cent. 


Lbs." 


Per 

Ct. 


Lbs. 


Maximum 
Minimum 
Average . . 


46,340 
26,295 
34,761 


16.58 
12.30 
14.50 


6,237 
3,234 
5,036 


69 
61 
65 


3,923 
2,102 
3,251 


29,400 
14,212 
22,269 


25.43 
13.55 
18.75 


7,064 
,2.415 
4,224 


78 
70 
72 


4,945 
1,715 
3,076 



It will be noticed that the average percent- 
age digestibility of the dry substance is 65 per 
cent for the Southern corn, and 73 per cent 
for the Maine lield corn, all the results ob- 



22 



MAKING AND FEEDING SILAGE. 



tained for the former varieties being lower 
than those obtained for the latter. It is of 
importance to examine the detailed results of 
digestion exi^eriments with these two kinds of 
fodder. The average digestion coefficients ob- 
tained in trials at the Maine station are as fol- 
lows. 

Comparative Digestibility of Varieties of Corn 
Grown Under Similar Conditions. 







B 
P « 

o 


"a 


O 


IS 

11 
o 

76.5 
71.0 

5.5 


Nitrogeu-free 
Extract. 
Per Cent. 


■a a 


Field Fodder Corn and Sil- 
age, 7 samples, 17 trials 

Southern Fodder Corn and 
Silage, 5 samples, 12 trials 


72.8 
64.6 


74.6 
66.5 


36.8 
39.7 


65.1 

59.6 


75.5 
65.2 


74.9 
66.3 


Difference in favor of field 
corn 


7.-: 


8.1 




5.5 


10.3 


8.6 



As a result of the lower digestion coefficients 
for the Southern varieties, the difference in the 
yield of digestible matter — the real important 
factor to be considered— is less marked. While 
the general result for the ^ve years is slightly 
in favor of the Southern varieties, as far as the 
yield of digestible matter is concerned, the fact 
should not be lost sight of, as called attention 
to by Professor Jordan, that an average of 
5^ tons more of material has annually to be 
handled over several times, in case of these 
varieties of corn, in order to gain 175 pounds 



SILAGE CROPS. 23 

more of digestible matter per acre; we therefore 
conclude that the smaller, less watery variety 
of corn really proved the more profitable. 

At other Northern stations similar results, or 
results more favorable to the Northern varie- 
ties, have been obtained, showing that the 
modern practice of growing only such corn for 
the silo as will mature in the particular locality 
of each farmer, is borne out by the results of 
careful culture tests. 

Methods of Planting Corn. 

Thickness of Planting. — The thicker the 
stand of a crop, the larger the i)roportion of 
stalks and foliage to seed ; with corn we thus 
find that thin planting will produce perfect 
plants, with well-develo]ped, large ears, while 
close planting will produce much fodder and 
only few ears, a large proportion of which will 
be nubbins. The reason for this will be easily 
understood at a moment's reflection: Plants 
need a great deal of light, heat, and moisture 
to reach perfect development. Where the 
stand is too thick, one plant will shade another, 
and the supply of sunshine and moisture (in 
our climate j)erhaps particularly the latter) 
will be insuflicient to bring each plant further 
than to the formation of rich foliage and a 
small proportion of ears of an imperfect size ; 
the greater part of the food materials of the 
plant elaborated will, therefore, in this case, re- 



24 



MAKING AND FEEDING SILAGE. 



main in the stalks and foliage. In planting corn 
for the silo we want the largest quantities 
of food materials that the land is capable of 
producing. This, evidently, can be obtained by 
a medium tliickness of planting. If too thin or 
too thick planting be practiced, tlie total yields 
of food materials obtained will be decreased — in 
the former case, because of the small stand of 
plants ; in the latter, because of insufficiency of 
light, moisture, and other conditions necessary 
to bring the plants forward to full growth. 

A single exi:>eriment may be given to show 
the effect of the distance of planting on the 
quantity and quality of the corn crop. White 
dent corn was planted on six one-twentieth 
acre x>lats at the Connecticut experiment sta- 
tion, as follows: One, two, and four stalks every 
four feet in the row, and two, four, and eight 
stalks to the foot. The following yields of cured 
fodder and dry matter were obtained from the 
different plats. 

Yield of Field-cured Crop. 



■4^ 






Water-free Substance in 


T 


Distance of Planting. 


Gross Dry 




Ah 




Weight Matter. 


Kernels 
lbs. 


Cobs. 


stover. 






lbs. 


lbs. 


lbs. 


lbs. 


A 


One Stalk in four feet . . . 


168.0 


104.8 


50.5 


11.8 


42.0 


B 


Two stalks in four feet. . 


320.0 


201.6 


102.2 


20.4 


79.0 


C 


Four stalks in four feet. . 


457.5 


307.2 


145.3 


32.1 


129.8 


D 


Two stalks to one foot. . 


491.0317.6 


105.4 


21.1 


191.1 


E 


Four stalks to one foot. . 


522.0 297.2 


70.4 


19.1 


207.7 


F 


Eight stalks to one foot.. 


532.0 260.3 


48.4 


13.5 


198.4 



The highest yield of the field-cured crop was 
obtained with the thickest planting, while most 



SILAGE CROPS. 



25 



dry matter was obtained by growing two stalks 
to a foot. Tlie highest yield of water-free ker- 
nels was at one stalk to a foot, and of stover at 
four stalks to a foot. The following table 
shows the proportions of kernels, cobs, and 
stover in the different ]3lats. 

Proportion of Kernel, Cobs, and Stover in Corn Crop, 

IN Per Cent. 



Distance of Planting. 


Kernels 


Cobs. 


Stover. 


Water 

Content of 

Crop. 


One stalk ia four feet. 

Two stalks in four feet 

Four stalks ia four feet 

Two stnlks to one foot 


48.4 
50.7 

47.3 
33.1 
24.0 
18.6 


11.3 

10.1 

10.4 

6.6 

6.4 

5.1 


40.3 
39.2 
42.3 
60.3 
69.6 
70.3 


37.9 
37.1 
32.9 
35 3 


Four stalks to one foot 

Eight stalks 1o one foot 


43.1 
51.0 



We notice that the water content of the field- 
cured crop increased as the distance of planting 
decreased ; that is, thicker seeding gave more 
watery fodder. 

The fact that thin seeding favors the perfec- 
tion of well-developed, strong plants is illus- 
trated by the following results, obtained in the 
same experiments, showing the yields of differ- 
ent parts of the corn plant from 1,000 seed 
kernels for each of the distances named. (See 
page 26.) 

We see that the practice to be followed in 
planting Indian corn for fodder must differ from 
that used in planting for ear corn. The distance 
in planting corn for the sake of the grain, differs 
greatly in different localities. The old Indian 



26 



MAKING AND FEEDING SILAGE. 



Yields op Different Parts of Corn Plant from 1,000 
Seed Kernels, in Pounds. 



• 


'a 
« 2 


Water-free Subetance. 


Distance of Plantinu. 


OQ 










2o 


s 


o 


> 


"3 
c 




Pm 


M 


O 


OQ 


H 


One stalk in four feet 


1,236 


371 


87 


309 


767 


Two stalks in four feet. . 


1176 


376 


75 


290 


741 


Four stalks in four feet. . 


841 


267 


59 


239 


565 


Two stalks to one foot. . . 


451 


97 


19 


176 


292 


Four stalks to one foot. . . 


239 


32 


9 


96 


137 


Eight stalks to one foot. . 


122 


11 


3 


46 


60 



way of i)lanting in hills, four feet both ways, 
dropping four to five kernels in each hill, has 
been followed generally in the corn belt, while 
in the New England States corn is, according to 
Professor Morrow, usually planted in hills three 
feet apart, with three kernels to the hill, and in 
some Southern States it is planted in hills five 
feet apart, with only one stalk in the hill. The 
ordinary Southern practice is, I believe, to 
plant in rows three to four feet apart, with 
stalks ever 5^ twelve to eighteen inches in the 
rows. These methods will secure a large pro- 
portion of perfect ears, but not the maximum 
crop of dry matter and its constituents in the 
total plant, which is wanted in growing corn 
for the silo. Numerous experiments have shown 
that under ordinary conditions in our country, 
better results in this direction may be obtained 
by planting the corn in hills three or even two 
feet apart, or in drills three or four feet apart, 



SILAGE CROPS. 27 

with plants six to eight inches apart in the 
row. A¥e find that the practice of our best 
farmers is in accordance with the teachings of 
these experiments. In growing corn for the 
silo, it is therefore generally recommended to 
plant in hills or drills in the manner mentioned, 
which will give about a square foot of soil to 
each corn plant. 

Since the conditions of moisture, tempera- 
ture, and fertility of the land, as well as other 
factors influencing the growth of crops, are 
not exactly alike in any two succeeding years, 
it is evident that any definite practice of thick- 
ness of planting adopted will not necessarily 
produce the best results every year, but such a 
practice should be followed as will be apt to 
produce the best average results for a number 
of years in each particular locality. 

Planting in Hills or in Drills. — Experi- 
ments conducted at a number of experiment sta- 
tions teach us that it makes little if any differ- 
ence, as far as the yield obtained is concerned, 
whether the corn be planted in hills or in drills, 
when the land is kept free from weeds in both 
cases. The yield seems more dependent on the 
number of plants growing on a certain area of 
land than on the arrangements of planting the 
corn. Hills four feet each w^ay, with four stalks 
to the hill, will thus usually give about the same 
yields as hills two feet apart, with two stalks in 
the hill, or drills four feet apart, with stalks 



28 MAKING AND FEEDING SILAGE. 

one foot apart in the row, etc. The question 
of planting corn in hills or hi drills is there- 
fore largely one of greater or less labor in 
keeping the land free from weeds by the two 
methods. This will depend on the character 
of the land ; where the land is uneven, and 
check-rowing of the corn difficult, or when the 
land is free from weeds, drill planting is pref- 
erable ; while, conversely, on large level fields, 
as on our Western prairies, the corn may more 
easily and cheai)ly be kept free from weeds 
if planted in hills and check-rowed. When 
the corn is to be cut with a reaper or with a 
sled cutter, it shoukl be planted in drills, so as 
to facilitate the cuttinor. 

Sowing Corn Broadcast. — Corn should be 
planted in hills or drills, and not broadcast. 
The objection to sowing corn broadcast is that 
the land cannot be kept free from weeds in this 
case, except by hand labor ; that more seed 
is required, and that plants will shade one 
another, and therefore not reach full devel- 
opment, from lack of sufficient sunshine and 
moisture. As a result, the yield will be greatly 
diminished. In an experiment conducted at 
the Geneva (N. Y.) experiment station in 
1889, the average yield of green fodder per 
acre from King Philip corn was 12,780 lbs., 
against 14,077 lbs. and 16,967 lbs., for drills 
and hills, respectively ; the average weights of 
plants were: Broadcast, 0.73 lbs. ; drills, 1.06 lbs. ; 



SILAGE CROPS. 29 

hills, 1.24 lbs.; the average number of quarts 
of seed per acre used was 25 1-3, 14 4-9, and 
10 2-9 quarts, for broadcast, drills, and hills, 
respectively. 

Preparation of Corn Land. 

Corn will give best results coining after clo- 
ver. The ^preparation of the land for growing 
corn is the same whether ear corn or forage is 
the object. Land intended for corn should be 
in good condition; in fact, it can hardly be 
too rich. Fall j)lowing is practiced by many 
successful corn growers. The seed is i3lanted 
on carefully prej)ared ground at such a time 
as convenient and advisable. Other things 
being equal, the earlier the jDlanting the bet- 
ter. "The early crop may fail, but the late 
crop is almost sure to fail." After planting, 
the soil should be kept pulverized and thor- 
oughly cultivated. Shallow cultivation will 
ordinarily give better results than deep culti- 
vation, as the former method suffices to destroy 
the weeds and to j)i'eserve the soil moisture, 
which are the essential points in cultivating 
crops. The cultivation should be no more fre- 
quent than is necessary for the com^jlete eradi- 
cation of weeds. It has been found that the 
yield of corn may be decreased by too frequent, 
as well as by insufficient, cultivation. The gen- 
eral rule maybe given to cultivate as often, but 
no oftener, than is necessary to kill the weeds. 



30 MAKING AND FEEDING SILAGE. 

In the majority of cases one cultivation a week 
until the corn shades tlie ground will be found 
sufficient. 

B. CLOVER. 

Clover is second to Indian corn in importance 
as a silage crop. We are but beginning to ap- 
preciate the value of clover in modern agricul- 
ture. It has been shown that the legumes, the 
family to which clover belongs, are the only 
plants able to fix the free nitrogen of the air; 
that is, convert it into compounds that may be 
utilized for the nutrition of animals. Clover 
and other legumes, therefore, draw largely on 
the air for the most expensive and valuable 
fertilizing ingredient, nitrogen, and for this 
reason, as well as on account of their deep 
roots, which bring fertilizing elements up near 
the surface, they enrich the land upon which 
they grow. Being a more nitrogenous feed 
than corn or the grasses, clover supplies a 
good deal of the protein compounds (flesh- 
forming substances) required by farm ani- 
mals for the maintenance of their bodies and 
for the production of milk, avooI, or meat. By 
feeding clover, a smaller purchase of high- 
priced concentrated feed stuffs, like flour- or oil- 
mill refuse products, is therefore necessary than 
when corn is fed, and on account of its high 
fertilizing value it enables the farmer feeding 
it to keep up the fertility of his land. When 



SILAGE CROPS. 31 

proi)erly made, clover silage is an ideal feed 
for nearly all kinds of stock. Besides its higher 
protein content it is superior to corn silage in 
its lower cost of production. Mr. A. F. Noyes, 
a prominent farmer of Dodge County, Wis., 
who has siloed 1200 tons of clover during the 
past eight years, estimates the cost of one ton 
of clover silage at 70 cents to $1, against SI to 
$1.25 per ton of corn silage. His average yields 
per acre of green clover are about twelve tons. 

Clover silage is superior to clover hay on ac- 
count of its succulence and greater palatability, 
as well as its higher feeding value. The last- 
mentioned point is mainly due to the fact that 
all the parts of the clover plant are preserved in 
the silo, with a small unavoidable loss in fermen- 
tation, while in hay -making, leaves and tedder 
part, which contain about two-thirds of the pro- 
tein compounds, are easily lost by abrasion. 

In spite of the fact that there have been many 
failures in the x^^^st in siloing clover, it may 
easily and cheaply be placed in a silo and pre- 
served in a perfect condition. The failures 
rei3orted are largely due to a faulty construc- 
tion of the silo. Clover does not pack as well 
as the heavy juicy corn, and therefore requires 
more weighting, or more depth in the silo, in 
order to sufficiently exclude the air. 

Time to Cut Clover for the Silo. — The 
yield of food materials obtained from clover at 
different stages of growth has been studied by 



32 



MAKING AND FEEDING SILAGE. 



a number of scientists. Tlie following table 
giving the results of an investigation conducted 
by Professor Atwater will show the total quan- 
tities of food materials secured at live different 
stages of growth of red clover. 

Yield per Acre of Ked Clover — in Pounds, 



Stage of 


Green 


Dry 


Crude 


Crude 


N-free 


Crude 


Ash. 


Cutting. 


Weight. 


Matter. 


Protein 


Fiber. 


Extract 


Fat. 




Just before 
















bloom 


3.570 


1,385 


198 


384 


664 


24 


115 


Full bloom 


2,650 


1,401 


189 


390 


682 


33 


107 


Nearly out of 
















bloom 


4,960 


1,750 


230 


528 


837 


31 


129 


Nearly ripe 


3,910 


1 523 


158 


484 


746 


36 


99 



Professor Hunt obtained 3,600 pounds of 
hay j)er acre from clover cut in full bloom, and 
3,260 pounds when three-fourths of the heads 
were dead. The yields of dry matter in the 
two cases were 2,526 pounds, and 2,427 x)ounds, 
respectively. All components, except crude 
fiber, yielded less per acre in the second cut- 
ting. Jordan found the same result, compar- 
ing the yields and composition of clover cut 
when in bloom, some heads dead, and heads 
all dead, the earliest cutting giving the maxi- 
mum yield of dry matter, and of all com^Don- 
ents excex)t crude matter. 

The common practice of farmers is to cut 
clover for the silo when in full bloom, or when 
the first single heads are beginning to wilt, and 
we notice that the teachings of the investiga- 
tions made are in conformity with this practice. 



SILAGE CROPS. 33 

C. OTHER SILAGE CROPS. 

A large number of crops, besides corn and 
clover, have been siloed successfully in this and 
other countries. All are, however, of minor 
imj)ortance as silage crops, compared with 
these, being only cut for the silo in certain 
localities, or occasionally and in small quan- 
tities, as a matter of experiment. Sorghum is 
sometimes siloed in the Western and Middle 
States. It is sown in drills, 3J inches apart, 
with a stalk every six to ten inches in the row, 
and is cut wdien the kernels are in the 
dough stage, or before. In Southern States, 
pea vines, soja bean, alfalfa, teosinte, and 
chicken corn are occasionally siloed. Pro- 
fessor Robertson of Canada has recommended 
the ''Robertson Ensilage Mixture" for the 
silo; it is made up of cut Indian corn, sun- 
flower seed heads, and horse beans. In North- 
ern Europe, especially in England, and in the 
Scandinavian countries, grass and aftermath 
(rowen) are usually siloed; in England, at the 
present time, largely in stacks; in the sugar- 
beet districts of Germany and Central Europe, 
diffusion chiles and beet tops are preserved in 
silos in large quantities. Occasional mention 
has furthermore been made in our agricultural 
literature of the siloing of a large number of 
plants, or products, like tares, cabbage leaves, 
sugar beets, potato leaves, turnips, brewers, 



34 MAKING AND FEEDING SILAGE. 

grains, apple pomace, twigs and leaves, and 
hop vines; even fern (brake), thistles, and ordi- 
nary weeds have been made into silage, and 
used with more or less success as food for farm 
animals. 



CHAPTER IL— SILOS. 

General Considerations. 

Several imi^ortant points liave to be observed 
in building silos. First of all, the silo must he 
air-tight. The iDrocess of siloing fodders is a 
series of fermentation processes. Bacteria 
(minute plants or germs), which are practically 
omnipresent, pass into the silo with the corn 
or the' siloed fodder, and, after a short 
time, perhax^s at once, they begin to grow and 
multiply in it, favored by the presence of 
air and an abundance of food materials in 
the fodder. The activity of the bacteria is 
soon discernible through the heating of the 
mass and the formation of acid in the 
fodder. The more air at the disposal of 
the bacteria, the further the fermentation pro- 
cesses will progress. If a supply of air is admit- 
ted to the silo from the outside, the bacteria 
will have a chance to continue to grow, and 
more fodder will therefore be wasted. If a 
large amount of air be admitted, as is usually 
the case with the top layer of silage, the fer- 
mentation processes will be more far-reaching 
than is usually the case in the lower layers of 
the silo. Putrefactive bacteria will then con- 

(85) 



36 MAKING AND FEEDING SILAGE. 

tinue the work of the acid bacteria, and the 
result will be rotten silage. If no further sup- 
ply of air is at hand, except what remains in 
the interstices between the siloed fodder, the 
bacteria will gradually die out, or only such 
forms will survive as are able to grow in the 
absence of the oxygen of the air. The 
biology of silage has received but very little 
attention from our scientists up to the present 
time, and we do not know which forms of bac- 
teria are favorable, and which are unfavorable 
to the proper run of the siloing process, or how 
many of the various conditions of siloing affect 
the final result. We know this, however, that 
no silage fit to be eaten can be made in the 
presence of air. The silo must therefore be 
air-tight, and the fodder in it well packed, so 
as to exclude the air as far as practicable. 

In the second place, the silo must have 
smooth^ perpendicular icalls^ which will allow 
the mass to settle without forming cavities 
along the walls. In a deep silo the fodder will 
settle several feet during the first few days 
after filling. Any unevenness in the wall will 
prevent the mass from settling uniformly, and 
air spaces in the mass thus formed will cause 
the surrounding silage to spoil. The walls 
must be rigid, so as not to spring when the 
siloed fodder settles; air would thereby be 
admitted, causing decay and loss of silage. 

Other points of importance in silo-building, 



SILOS. 37 

which do not apply to all kinds of silos, will be 
considered as we proceed with the discussion 
of the various kinds of silos in existence. We 
shall now take up the different phases of the 
subject of silo building. 

Size of Silos. — In planning a silo the first 
point to be decided is how large it shall be 
made. We will sux)pose that a farmer has a 
herd of twenty -five cows, to which he wishes 
to feed silage during the winter season, e. g., 
for 180 days. We note here, at the outset, that 
silage will not be likely to give best results 
for milch cows, or for any other class of 
farm animals, when it furnishes the greater 
portion of the dry matter of the feed rauon. 
As a rule, it will not be well to feed over forty 
pounds of silage daily per head. If this 
quantity be fed daily, on an average for a 
season of 180 days, we have for the twenty-five 
cows 180,000 pounds, or ninety tons. On ac- 
count of the fermentation processes taking 
j)lace in the silo, there is an unavoidable loss of 
food materials during the siloing period, 
amounting to about 10 per cent; we must 
therefore put more than the quantity given 
into the silo. If ninety tons of silage is wanted, 
about one hundred tons of fodder corn must be 
placed in the silo. Corn silage will weigh from 
thirty pounds, or less, to toward fifty pounds per 
cubic foot, according to the depth of the silo, 
and the amount of moisture contained in the 



38 



MAKING AND FEEDING SILAGE. 



silage. We may take forty pounds as the 
average weight of one cubic foot of corn silage. 
One ton of silage will accordingly take up 
fifty cubic feet; and 100 tons, 5,000 cubic feet. 
If a rectangular one-hundred-ton silo is to be 
built, say 12x14 feet, it must then have a 
height of 30 feet. If a square silo is wanted, 
it might be given dimensions 12 x 12 x 35 feet, 
or 13x13x30; if a circular silo, the following 
dimensions will be about right: Diameter, 16 
feet; height of silo, 25 feet, etc. In the same 
way, a silo holding 200 tons of corn or clover 
silage may be built of the dimensions 
16x24x26 feet, 20x20x25 feet, or, if round, 
diameter, 25 feet; height, 32 feet, etc. 

The following table will show the apx)roxi- 
mate quantities of silage required for the feed- 
ing of herds of cattle of from ten to forty 
head for a period of 180 days, forty pounds 
of silage being fed daily per head. The dimen- 
sions of an}^ silo of a capacity as given in the 
last column of the table may be easily calculated. 



Quantities of 


Silage Required for Different Herds. 


Number of Cows 
IN THE Herd. 


Weigiit of 
Silage. 


Wei<,'ht of 
Silaj^e. 


Approximate No. 
of Cubic Feet. 


10 

15 

20 


LBS. 

72,000 
108,000 
144,000 
180,000 
216,000 
252 000 
288,000 


TONP. 

36 
54 

72 

90 

108 

126 

144 


2,400 
3,100 
4,100 
4,800 
5,400 
6,300 
7,200 


25 


30 


35 


40 



40 



MAKING AND FEEDING SILAGE. 



Form of Silos.— The first silos made in this 
country or abroad were rectangular, shallow 
structures, with a door opening at one end. 
Goffart's silos were 6x12 meters wide, and 5 
meters high (16.4x39.4x16.4 feet). Another 
French silo, one of the largest ever built, 




FIG. 2.- PLAN OF GOFFART'S SILOS. 

belonging to Yicomte de Chezelles, was 
206x21i feet, and 15 feet high, holding nearly 
1,500 tons of silage. Silos of a s*milar type, 
but of smaller dimensions, were built in this 
country in the early stages of silo building. 
Experience had taught siloists that it was 



SILOS. 41 

necessary to weight the fodder heavily in these 
sih)s, in order to avoid the spoiling of large 
quantities of silage. In Golf art's silos, boards 
were thus i^laced on top of the siloed fodder, 
and the mass was weighted at the rate of 100 
pounds per square foot. 

It was found, however, after some time, 
that this heavy weighting could be dispensed 
with by making the silos deep, and gradually 
the deep silos came more and more into use. 
These silos were first built in this country in the 
latter part of the eighties ; at the present time 
none but silos more than eighteen to twenty 
feet deep are built, no matter of what form or 
material they are made. 

Since 1890 the cylindrical form of silos has 
become more and more general. Tliese silos 
have the advantage over all other kinds in 
point of cost and convenience, as well as qual- 
ity of the silage obtained. We shall, later on, 
have an occasion to refer to the relative value 
of the various forms of silos, and shall here 
only mention one point in favor of the round 
silos. One of the essentials in silo building is 
that there shall be a minimum of surface and 
wall exposure of the silage, as both the cost 
and the danger from losses through spoiling 
are thereby reduced. 

The round silos are superior to all other 
forms in regard to the former point, as will 
be readily seen from an example : A rectangu- 



43 MAKING AND FEEDING SILAGE. 

lar silo, 16x32x24 feet, has the same number of 
square feet of wall surface as a square silo, 
24x24 feet, and of the same depth, or as a cir- 
cular silo 30 feet in diameter and of the same 
depth ; but these silos will hold about the fol- 
lowing quantities of silage : Rectangular silo, 
246 tons ; square silo, 276 tons ; circular silo, 
338 tons. Less lumber will, therefore, be 
needed to inclose a certain cubical content of 
silage in case of square silos than in case of 
rectan^rular ones, and less for cylindrical silos 
than for square ones, the cylindrical form being, 
then, the most economical of the three types. 

Silage of all kinds will usually begin to 
spoil after a few days, if left exposed to the 
air ; hence the necessity of considering the 
extent of surface exjoosure of silage in the silo 
while it is being fed out. In a deep silo there 
is less silage exj)osed in the surface layer in 
proportion to the contents than in shallow silos. 
Exj^erience has taught us that about two inches 
of the toj) layer of the silage must be fed out 
daily during cold weather in order to prevent 
the silage from spoiling; in warm weather about 
three inches must daily be taken off. The form 
of the silo must therefore be planned, accord- 
ing to the size of the herd, with special refer- 
ence to this point. Professor King estimates 
that there should be a feeding surface in the 
silo of about five square feet per cow in the herd; 
a herd of thirty cows will then require 150 



SILOS. 43 

quare feet of feeding surface, or the insides 
diameter of the silo should be 14 feet; for a 
herd of forty cows a silo with a diameter of 
16 feet will be required; for fifty cows, a 
diameter of 18 feet; for one hundred cows, a 
diameter of 25. 25 feet, etc. 

Locating the Silo. — The question, where to 
build the silo, is most important and has to be 
settled at the start. The feeding of the silage 
is an every-day job during the whole winter, 
and twice a day at that. Other things being 
equal, the nearest available place is therefore 
the best. The silo should be as handy to get 
at from the barn as i^ossible. The condition 
of the ground must be considered. If the 
ground is dry outside the barn, the best plan 
to follow is to build the silo there, in connection 
with the barn, going five or six feet below the 
surface, ]iroviding for a door opening and 
chute as shown in Figs. 7 and 8, in case of 
round silos. This connection can be made still 
more easily in case of square or rectangular 
silos, as the barn wall may then form one wall 
of the silo and a doorway open directly into 
the barn. The bottom of the silo should be 
on or below the level where the cattle stand, 
and, if practicable, the silage should be moved 
out and placed before the cows at a single 
handling. 

Bottom of Silo. — The bottom of the silo 
may be clay, or, preferably, a layer of small 



44 MAKING AND FEEDING SILAGE. 

stones covered with cement. In some silos 
considerable damage has been done by rats 
burrowing their way into the silo from 
below, and destroying a great deal of silage, 
both directly and indirectly, by admitting air 
into the silo. The silo may be built four to 
six feet down into the ground, if this is dry. 
It is easy to build the silo deep by this 
arrangement, and there will be no need of 
extra length of carrier. By means of a ten- 
inch plank, provided with a number of cleats, 
the underground portion of the silo may easily 
be emptied, the feeder walking up the plank 
with the basket filled with silage. 

Foundation and Wall of Silo — The silo 
should rest on a substantial stone foundation, 
to prevent the bottom of the silo from rotting 
and to guard against spreading of the silo wall. 
The foundation wall should be 18 to 24 inches 
thick. Professor Cook recommends making 
the bottom of the silo one foot below the ground, 
so that the stone wall on which it rests may be 
sustained by the earth on the outside, as shown 
in Fig. 3. 

Sills made by two 2x10 planks (P) rest on the 
inside ten inches of the foundation wall ; one 
of these projects at each corner. The studdings 
(S), which are 2x10 planks, and as long as the 
silo is high, are placed 12 to 16 inches apart, 
large silos requiring the smaller distance. Fig. 
4 shows the arrangement of the stone foun- 



SILOS. 



45 



dation wall, extending above surface of the 
ground. 

As there is a considerable lateral pressure in 
the silo before the fodder has settled, it is very 
important to make the wall rigid and to place 




FIG. 3.— FOUNDATION OF SILO. 
Bottom of silo one foot below ground. (Cook.) 

the studdings sufficiently close together to pre- 
vent spreading of the wall. Professor King 
found that the lateral pressure in a silo on the 
average amounts to 10. 94 pounds for every foot 
in depth of silage; that is, at a depth of 20 feet 



46 



MAKING AND FEEDING SILAGE. 



there is a pressure of about 218 pounds per 
square foot; at 30 feet, 328 pounds, etc. Mr. 
James M. Turner states that it was found neces- 
sary to use 2x12 studding, 22, 24, or 26 feet in 
length, for the outside wall, as well as for the 

D 




FIG. 4— FOUNDATION OF SILO. 
Wall extending above surface of the ground. (Cook.) 

cross partitions in his first silo. In addition to 
this, three courses of bridging in each side-wall 
were inserted. In spite of all, the pressure, 
when the silo was full, frequently forced out 
the sides from two to six inches in places, and 



SILOS. 47 

on some occasions the air was thus allowed to 
penetrate the silage and impair its value. 

To insure ventilation in rectangular wooden 
silos, the sills may be two inches narrower than 
the studding, so as to leave air sj^aces between 
the sills and the lining ; in the same way the 
plate is made narrower than the studding to 
provide for an esca^^e at the top. The same end 
may be reached by boring a series ot holes at 
the bottom of the outside wall between every 
two studs, leaving an open space of about two 
inches on the inside, at the toj) of the plate. 
Wire netting should be nailed over ventilation 
openings to keep out rats and mice. 

Roof of the Silo. — Where the silo is built 
in the bay of a barn, there will be no need of 
making any separate roof, whicli otherwise 
generally will be the case. The roof may be 
either board or shingle, and should be provided 
with a cupola, so as to allow free ventilation in 
the silo. In extreme cold weather it should be 
shut, to prevent freezing of the silage. 

Material foe Silo Building. — Silos are at 
the present built almost exclusively of wood, 
stone, or concrete, or partly of one, partly of 
another of these materials. The material used 
will largely be determined by local conditions ; 
where lumber is cheap, and stone high, wooden 
silos will generally be built ; where the op- 
posite is true, stone silos will have the advan- 
tage on the point of cheapness, while concrete 



48 MAKING AND FEEDING SILAGE. 

silos are likely to be preferred where cobble- 
stones are at hand in abundance, and lumber 
or stone are hard to get at a reasonable cost. 
So far as the quality of the silage made in any 
of these kinds of silos is concerned, there is no 
difference when the silos are properly built. 
The longevity of stone and concrete silos is 
usually greater than that of wooden silos, since 
the latter are more easily attacked by the silage 
juices and are apt to decay in places after a 
number of years, in spite of all precautions that 
may be taken to preserve them. 

We shall now consider somewhat in detail 
the various types of silos, and shall give direc- 
tions for their building in each case. 

Description of the Different Kinds of 

Silos. 

I. Pits in tlie Groiintl. 

The primitive form of silos was simple 
trenches or pits dug in the ground, in which 
the grain or fodder to be preserved was buried, 
and covered with boards and a layer of earth. 
Sometimes the trench was cemented ; in the 
earlier stages of underground silos, it was not. 
Immense quantities of sugar beet tops and beet 
chips have been siloed in this way in European 
countries, especiallj^ in German}^ and France. 
In this country, before silo structures proper 
became general, a few farmers, not wishing to 



SILOS. 49 

risk muck money on a system tkey knew only 
from kear-say, obtained tkeir first silo experi- 
ence in tliis simple way. 

An excavation about 30 feet long, 15 feet 
wide, and 2 1-2 feet deep was made in 1889, in a 
cornfield at tlie Kansas exi)eriment station ; 
tke soil was dry and sandy ; corn stalks witli 
ears on were carefully piled in tliis pit in Octo- 
ber, and tke mass rolled witli a lieavy iron 
roller ; tke fodder was then covered witli a 
four-inck layer of straw and twenty inckes of 
eartk. When tke iDit was oj^ened late in De- 
cember, tke silage was found to be in a very 
excellent condition. 

Tliis ratker crude metliod of preserving fodder 
will, kowever, always be accompanied by large 
losses on account of tke excessive and faulty 
fermentations occurring during tke siloing 
period. It can not, tkerefore, be recommended. 
Muck tke better plan to follow for tke farmer 
intending to try silage, is to travel about a little, 
and examine some modern silos before build- 
ing ; witk the wide distribution of silos at the 
present date, he will usually not kave far to go 
to find one. 

II. Silos in the Barn. 

A large number of silos kave been built in a 
bay of tke barn. AVliere the necessary depth can 
be obtained and where the room can be spared, 
suck silos can be built very easily and at less 

4 



50 MAKITTG AND FEEDING SILAGE. 

cost than a separate structure, since lighter 
materials in this case may be used, and no roof 
will be required for the silo. Silos built m this 
manner have generally the advantage over 
other silos in being near at hand. This is a 
very important point; feeding time comes twice 
a day throughout the winter and spring, and a 
few steps saved in hauling the silage mean a 
good deal in the aggregate. Many farmers 
first made silos of this kind, and later on, when 
familiar with the process, built additional sep- 
arate structures. 

Bays of the barn may be easily changed into 
silos according to the following directions 
given by Professor Whitcher: 

'' Remove floors, and if there is a barn 
cellar, place sills on the bottom of this and 
set 2x8 scantling vertically, bringing up the 
inside edges even with the sills of the 
barn. The bottom may or may not be ce- 
mented, according as the ground is wet or 
dry. If to be cemented, three casks of cement 
and an equal amount of sharp sand or gravel 
will cover a bottom 16x10 and turn up on the 
sides two feet, which will give a tight silo. 
Common spruce or hemlock boards, square- 
edged and planed on one side, are best for 
boarding the inside of the silo; these are to be 
put on in two courses, breaking joints, and, if 
thoroughly nailed, will give a tight pit. No 
tonguing or matching is needed. Tarred paper 



SILOS. 51 

may be put between the boarding, if desired, but 

I doubt if it is of great utilit3\ At some point 

most easily accessible, an opening extending 

nearly tlie height of the silo must be made to 

put in the corn and take out the ensilage. The 

courses of boards should be cut shorter than 

the opening, to allow loose boards to be set in, 

lapping on the door studding and making an 

air-tight joint. For all this work medium 

lumber is good enough, and a very limited 

amount of mechanical skill and a few tools, 

which all farms should have, will enable most 

farmers to build their own silo. A few iron 

rods, one-half inch in diameter, may be neces- 

' sary to prevent spreading by side pressure, but 

I this will depend upon the strength of the orig- 

|,inal frame of the barn. Narrow boards, from 

iive to eight inches wide, are better than wide 

'ones, as they are not likely to swell and split. 

'Eight-penny nails for the first boarding and 

i twelve- j)enny nails for the second course will 

4iold the boards in place. 

j "A silo constructed as above outlined will 
jcost from 50 cents to $1 for each ton of its 
Icapacity, according as all materials, including 
llumber and stone, are charged, or only labor 
and nails, rods, and cement." 
I John Gould's $43 Silo. — The well-known 
^agricultural writer and lecturer, John Gould of 
phio, has described his one-hundred-ton silo 
(built in one-half of the bay of his barn at a cost 



52 MAKIIN^G AND FEEBINa SILAOE. 

of $43. As it may be helpful to some farmers, 
we give below the full description of the silo. 
Mr. Gould says: "Having become convinced 
that cheaper material than that usually em- 
ployed could be used, and even stone and 
cement discarded, I set out with this end in 
view. The barn has a basement of eight feet 
beneath it. This was utilized to make the silo 
deeper, making it twenty-two feet in depth and 
fourteen feet square inside. 

''Frame of Silo.— On one side (E) I had the 
backing of my old silo, and on the opposite side 
(B) a stone wall of eight feet. On the two 
sides, B and C, the studding only had the cen- 
ter backing of the sill, and cross-beam at C, 
eight feet from the basement floor. The bot- 
tom of the silo was leveled off, and a footing 
made for the studs on the B and C sides by 
digging a trench, about 12 inches wide and 6 
inches deep, under where the studding would 
come. Two sticks of timber, 6x12 inches, were 
thoroughly saturated with gas or coal tar, and 
laid in these trenches, and made solid by tamp- 
ing them at sides. The studding, 2x6 inches, 
were hoisted in place and set about 18 inches 
apart, made peri)endicular by the aid of a spirit 
level, and on the sills toe-nailed witli 20-penny 
wire spikes. The studding against the w^all were 
allowed to rest against it without a sill, and the 
studding of the old silo came in for double 
duty, its own wall becoming now a partition. 



SILOS. 53 

On the A and B sides, false girths were added 
to tliose of the barn frame by building out witli 
an 8-inch planlv, so that tliey would be flush 
with the inside facing of the sill. This also 
lends additional strength to the barn frame, 
and makes three more back supports for the 
silo, and avoids at the same time 'cobbling' or 
bridging to connect barn and silo. 

"The s'lo was then sheeted up inside with 
cheap, but good, sound, $8 per 1,000 inch-lum- 
ber, taking 1,230 feet, costing $9.85. The whole 
inside was then papere 1 uj) and down with a 
3-inch lap with tarred building paper, costing 
80 cents per roll, taking somewhat less than 
three rolls, or $3 more. The silo was then 
linished up by covering this inside again with 
inch cull pine lumber, single and unfaced, so 
put on that it half lapi^ed the cracks of the first 
boarding, the second layer being tacked on with 
10-penny wire nails. This lumber was not even 
jointed or matched, and all put on horizontally, 
so that there can be no up and down cracks for 
the escape or entry of air. If a board did not 
joint closely upon the one below it, a little of its 
round or concave was taken off with a draw- 
shave, and a nail or two driven 'toeing' to 
bring it down snugly. This coating of lumber 
cost, for 1,230 feet, at the rate of $13 per 
1,000, making a bill of $16, and for surfacing 
$1 more; total, $17. 

'' Fainting tlie Lining. — Six gallons of gas 



54 MAKING AND FEEDING SILAGE. 

tar, costing 24 cents, and 2^ gallons of gasoline, 
costing 25 cents, were compounded, and the 
whole inside of the silo painted with it, the 
application being rapidly performed with a 
wash-brush. The gasoline causes the gas tar 
to strike in rapidly and dry quickly. After 
using hot tar and resin, and then this last, I 
greatly prefer it, and there is less danger of 
burning one's-self. 

''Doors. — Selecting the space between two 
studs at the middle of the wall C as the hand- 
iest place for taking out the silage, commencing 
at about three feet from the top, the boarding 
was sawed down close to each stud, eight feet. 
A strip was then made for three feet, to allow 
the center of the silo the full end strength of 
three boards. Another doorway Avascut five feet 
and to within three feet of the bottom. An 
inch-by-four strip was then nailed on to each 
stud, on the outside and close up to the boards. 
The short lengths were all pat back into their 
places in the order in which they were cut out, 
making a very close-fitting door. The boards 
were lightly fastened, and over each, on the in- 
side, is hung a curtain made of a jjiece of tarred 
paper, two feet longer and a foot or more wider 
than the door. When the silo is filled the 
pressure of the silage against the paper makes 
an almost absolutely air proof door, and it is 
the cheapest and best devised. 

''Floor of Silo.— For the floor the original clay 



SILOS. 55 

was used. Commencing in the center of the 
pit the clay was removed and thoroughly 
packed along the walls, making the bottom of 
the silo somewhat concave. This throws the 
great weight and pressure of the silage into 
this depression, and relieves the silo of so much 
strain. If the silo has natural drainage, and 
one is sure of reasonably dry footing, clay is 
in all respects jDref erable to a grout or cement 
bottom, and cheapens the cost of the silo by so 
much. I now have my silo complete. The 
lumber and labor bill is : 

Sills $ 1.00 

Studdiugs 9.00 

Inside facing 17.00 

Nails 1.50 

Sheeting 9.85 

Paper 2.00 

Paint 50 

Hired man 2.00 

Total $42.85 

'* This does not include my own labor for four and a half 
days." 

III. Separate Silo Structures. 
A. Woodeu Silos. 

In the Northwestern States wooden silos can 
as a rule be built cheaper than either stone or 
grout silos. While they may not last as long 
as the latter types, even with the best of care 
in both building and maintenance, they will last 
for a large number of years if necessary precau- 



56 



MAKING AND FEEDING SILAGE. 



tions for tlieir preservation are taken. They 
may be built by placing 2x10 pieces as stud- 
ding one foot apart, and boarding on the inside 
with matched boards or shiplap, or with two 
layers of siding with building paper betw-een; 
and on the outside building paper, over Avhich 
common boards are nailed. If double lining is 
used, the first one is nailed on the studding 
horizontally, and the second vertically. 




i^^'^^^' 






FIG. 5.- RECTANGULAR WOODEN SILO. 
Dimensions, 48 x 24 feet, 22 feet high. (From a photograph.) 

There is a good deal of difference of opin- 
ion as to the silo lining, several observing 
farmers claiming that double boarding, with 
or without tarred paper between, will rot 
before a one -layer lining of sound matched 
lumber or shiplap, free from cracks and 
checks, put on horizontally. Mr. H. B. Gurler, 
the well-known Illinois dairyman, says on this 



SILOS. 57 

point in a communication to the author: ''My 
first silo was built with a single boarding on 
inside of studdings. This was a good quality of 
matched lumber, and it is still sound after hav- 
ing been filled eleven times ; I cannot find any 
signs of decay, or at least could not before fill- 
ing last fall. The second silo I built was with 
double walls inside, with paper between. I am 
confident that decay will sooner cause trouble 
with these walls, as I can see the effect of it now 
in some places, and this after nine fillings. I 
imagine moisture from the corn gets through the 
joints before it swells these tight, and saturates 
the paper, thus causing decay. I think if build- 
ing now I should select sound, kiln-dried lum- 
ber for the inside and put on one thickness." 

Professor Robertson, the Dairy Commissioner 
of Canada, also recommends a single lining for 
wooden silos. He says: "I have found one ply 
of sound 1-inch lumber, tongued and grooved, 
and nailed horizontally on the inside of studs, 
2 inches by 10 inches or 2 inches by 12 inches, 
to be sufficient. I did build silos with four ply 
of lumber and tar paper between them ; and I 
could not keep the silage any better than with 
one ply of lumber, tongued and grooved or 
planed on the edges." 

No filling material is necessary or desirable in 
the dead air spaces formed by the studding and 
the outside and inside facing ; air is a better 
non conductor of heat than sawdust, chafi", or 



58 MAKING AND FEEDING SILAGE. 

any other material which has been recommended 
for this pur|)ose. 

As before stated, deep silos are better than 
shallow ones, and square better than rectangular, 
as they require less lumber. For the same and 
other reasons circular silos are to be preferred to 
either of these forms. Another point in favor 
of the round silo is the absence of corners in 
this type of silos, the whole inside forming a 
smooth round wall; corners are always objection- 
able in a silo on account of the loss of silage 
through spoiling, which generally takes place 
there, the reason being the difficulty of perfectly 
excluding air by pressure at these points. 

To avoid the loss of silage in the corners of 
square or rectangular silos they should be 
partially rounded off by x)]acing a square timber, 
split diagonally, in each of the corners; another 
plan is to bevel the edge of a ten-inch plank 
and nail it in the corners, filling in behind per- 
fectly with dry earth or sand ; sawdust has 
been recommended, but it should not be used, 
as it will draw moisture and cause the plank 
and silo lining to decay; the space back of the 
plank may also be left empty. 

A Primitive Colorado Silo. — Professor 
Cooke describes a wooden silo, made at the Colo- 
rado College Farm, which is still cheaper than 
Mr. Gfould'ssilo, previously described — and also 
more primitive. "The climatic conditions in 
large sections of the West are such as to allow 



SILOS. 59 

silos to be built very deep into the ground and 
render roof unnecessary. The silo was built on 
a slight slope ; a hole, 21 feet square and 8 feet 
deep, was dug out with the plow and scraper. 
The only hand w^ork necessary was in the cor- 
ners and the sides. Inside this hole a 2x6 
sill was laid on the ground; 2x6 studding, 12 
feet long, erected every 2 feet, and a 2 x 6 i^late 
put on top. This frame w^ork was then sheeted 
on the inside with a single thickness of 
unmatched, unplaned, rough boards, such as 
can be bought almost anywhere for $12 jjer 1, 000. 

" The inside was lined with a single thickness 
of tarred building paper, held in place by per- 
pendicular slats. The floor w^as made by whet- 
ting and tramping the clay at the bottom, 
while the heavens above made an excellent and 
very cheap roof. The dirt was filled in against 
the sides, and banked up to within two feet of 
the top, except on the low^er side, where were 
doors, reaching from near the top to within 
four feet of the bottom. All labor was done 
by the farm hands and teams, and could as 
easily be done by any farmer on his own farm. 

"The bill for material stands as follows: 

240 feet, 2x6, for sill and plate. 

528 •• 2x6, 12 feet long, for studding. 

960 ' * rough boards for sides. 

1,728 " lumber, at $12 per M $20.74 

Nails, lalli,and building paper 7.00 

$27.74 



60 



MAKING AND FEEDING SILAGE. 



" Had the hole been two feet deeper, and the 
sides two feet higher, with one partition, the two 
pits wonkl then have been each 10 x 20 feet, 
and 16 feet deep, with a total capacity of 100 
tons of silage; while the cost of material would 
have been $44. Thns, a silo can be built in 
Colorado for less than 50 cents for each ton 
capacity. 



5? 




v\\ W V 



FIG. 6.— C^LI^1DRICAL BARN, SHOWING MAIN ENTRANCE TO FIRST AND 
SECOND STORIES. From a photograph. (King.) 

Round Wooden Silos may conveniently be 
built inside of large, round barns in a similar 
manner, as described in the Eighth Report of 
the Wisconsin Experiment Station, in case of 
a three-hundred ton silo at Whitewater, Wis. 
The dimensions of this silo are 20 feet inside 



SILOS. 



61 



diameter, by 35 feet high. It was built from 
2x6 stnddings, sided up by two layers of fence 
boards, sawed in two. The illustrations, with 
legends given below, will explain further the 
details of the construction of barns of this 
kind. 

Round silos can be built cheaper than square 




FIG. 7.— SHOWING ARRANGEMENT AND CONSTRUCTION OF FIRST STORY. 

A, Wagon drives for cleaning barn; B, Feed nnanger; C, Platform for cattle ; 2,4, Method of 
Ventilation; 5, Method of placing joists. 

ones, both because of their greater relative 
capacity, and because lighter material may be 
used in their construction. The sills and stud- 
ding here do no work except to support the 
roof, since the lining acts as a hoop to prevent 
spreading of the wall. Professor King, of 
Wisconsin Experiment Station, who has given 
a great deal of study to the proper construction 



62 



MAKING AND FEEDING SILAGE. 



of silos, and who first advocated the building 
of round silos, gives the following directions 
for their building. 

^^ Foundation of the Silo. — The silo should 
be so situated that surface water can not drain 




FIG. 8— SHOWING ARRANGEMENT AND CONSTRUCTION OF SECOND STORY. \ 
A, Barn floor ; B Hay bay ; T, Tool room ; C, Workshop and granary ; 1 , Purline plates and method 
of placing Ihem ; 2, Showing method of placing rafters ; H, Entrance drive. 

into it. It is also best to set it as deeply into 
the ground as practicable. Wherever building 
stone is cheap, and where the soil is naturally 
dry to a sufficient depth, the bottom of the 
silo may well extend two or three feet below 
the level of the ground floor where the silage 



SILOS. 



63 



is removed, even tliougli this be that of a base- 
ment barn. For the wood silo the foundation 
wall should have a thickness of about eighteen 
inches, with the upper eight inches beveled 
back as shown in Fig. 9, when the silo is com- 
pleted; otherwise the foundation wall should 




FIG. 9.— CONSTRUCTION OF ALL-WOOD, ROUND SILO. 
A, Vent'la-tors between studding. 

be thoroughly plastered with a good cement, in 
the proportion of two of cement to three of 
sand, plastering up flush with the inner face of 
the lining, so as to effectually close all air 
passages under the sill. Finally, when the 
plaster has set, it will be well to whitewash with 



64 MAKING AND FEEDING SILAGE. 

a coat of pure cement, and to repeat this treat- 
ment every one or two years, the object being 
to neutralize the acid of the silage, and thns 
prevent it from attacking the wall itself, which 
it will certainly do unless protected in some 

way. 

'"^ Sills and Plates.— These may be made of 
2x4's cut into about two-foot lengths, on a 
slant of two radii of the circle of the silo, the 
sections of the sills being toe-nailed together on 
the wall, and then bedded in mortar and leveled. 
The pieces for the plate may be spiked directly 
upon the tops of the studding. One thicks 
ness for either sill or plate is all that is needed, 
and it is unnecessary in either case to cut the 
pieces to a circle. 

' ' Studding.— The studding for the round silo, 
unless more than 35 feet in diameter, need 
never be larger than 2x4's, and should be 
placed a trifle less than 12 inches from center 
to center, in order that lumber bending around 
a slightly larger circle may not cut to w^aste. If 
lengths of studding greater than 20 feet are re- 
quired, these may be procured by nailing two 
shorter lengths together, lapping them about 
two feet. 

" To put the studding in place, set a strong 
post in the center of the bottom of the silo, 
reaching, say, six feet above the level of the sill. 
Set in place every alternate stud, toe-nailing at 
the bottom, and staying by a single board to 



SILOS. 65 

the center post. After the stud has been made 
plumb, stay the studding sidewise with strips 
of lining, binding around the outside, and 
tacking to each stud. After this is done, the 
intermediate studs may be set up, and simply 
tacked to the bent strips, and toe-nailed to the 
sill. At this stage, the sheeting outside may 
begin at the bottom, and be carried to the 
height of the first staging, when the siding may 
be started, and carried to nearly the same height. 
' ' Lining and Siding. — The lining of the silo, 
of whatever size, is best made of fencing split 
in two, making a little less than half -inch lum- 
ber, and it is best to have the fencing first sized, 
so that it wdll all be of the same width ; but it 
need not be surfaced. Three layers of this 
lumber should be used on the inside, with a 
layer of good quality tar paper between each 
layer of boards, the first two layers being nailed 
with eight-penny wire nails, and the last layer 
with ten-penny nails, in order that the boards 
may be drawn very firmly together. The sheet- 
ing outside should also be of the same lumber 
for diameters less than thirty feet, and if extra 
warmth is desired, a layer of paper may be 
placed between this and the siding. The siding 
for small silos should be the ordinary beveled 
type, rabbeted on the thick edge dee}:) enough to 
receive the thin one; but for silos twenty-eight 
or more feet in diameter, ship-lap or droj^ 
siding of the ship-lajD type may be used instead. 



66 MAKING AND FEEDING SILAGE. 

As the outside sheeting is carried up, the stud- 
ding should be kept plumb sidewise by tacking 
on strips of sheeting as already described ; and 
the plate need not be put on until the last stag- 
ing has been erected. To carry siding and 
sheeting up together saves staging. 

' ' If the weather permits, it is usually best to 
put on the lining before the roof, and to cut out 
the doors afterward, except one at the bottom 
for convenience in work. 

" 77ie Roof. — This may be conical, octagonal, 
or two-sided, as shown in Fig. 10. On the 
whole, the conical roof is to be preferred, and 
no rafters are required for silos 18 feet or less 
in diameter. For the roof of small silos, a 
circle may be sawed out of 2x8' s, and the pieces 
spiked together in two layers, the pieces break- 
ing joints. It should have an outside diameter 
of 5 to 7 feet, according to the size of the silo. 
With this type of roof, the roof boards will be 
cut the length which would be required for 
rafters, and then sawed diagonally from corner 
to corner, leaving the two ends of such widths 
as will corresx)ond to the size of the two circles 
made by the opposite ends. This should be 
done at the mill. The circular frame is sup- 
ported in place, and the roof boards nailed 
directly to it, and to .the plate, when the whole 
becomes self-supporting. 

" Larger silos may be roofed in the same man- 
ner, by using two or three circles. 



SlLOS. 



67 




FIG. 10.-^ SHOWING TWO METHODS OF ROOFING SILOS AND THE 
MANNER OF CONNECTING THEM WITH A BARN. 
A, Shows where air is admitted between the studdii-g to ventilate behind the lining. 
B, Feeding chute ; C, The filling window. The cupola is essential to perfect 
ventilation. 



68 MAKTTTG AT^B FEEr)i:N'G SILAGE. 

[The arrangement shown in the second view, 
Fig. 9, is preferable, since the two-sided roof 
does away with a dormer window, thus decreas- 
ing the expense of the silo. — W.] 

' ' The roof may finally be covered with ordi- 
nary shingle, or with some form of rooting felt. 
In the latter case, the felt would be cut into 
lengths equal to the root boards, and then 
these pieces cut diagonally from near corner 
to corner, making the two ends of such widths 
that the strips may overla]i two or three 
inches. The cupola, or ventilator, may be 
made of wood, as shown in Fig. 10; or of metal, 
as shown in Fig. 11. 

'^ Ventilation of the Silo. — Good ventilation, 
both inside of the silo and behind the lining, is 
of the greatest importance in preventing the 
lining from rotting. The inside lining should 
lack two or three inches of reaching the x^late, 
and the open space be covered with wire net- 
ting to prevent silage from falling over when 
filling; and then at the bottom, outside, just 
above the sill, an inch and a half hole should 
be bored through the siding, between each 
pair of studs, as shown in Fig. 9; and this 
should be done before the lining is put on, 
and the holes covered Avitli pieces of wire net- 
ting to keep out vermin. This provision keeps 
the lining dry behind, and dries the inner 
lining as fast as the silage is removed. In silos 
less than eighteen feet in diameter, where the 



SILOS. 



69 



sill is made as described, there will be opening 
enough for ample ventilation at the bottom, 
between the sill and sheeting, so that the holes 
are not required. 

' ' The Doors. — The filling door should be in the 
roof, as shown in Figs. 10 and 11, and about 






FIG. 11.— WOODEN ROUND SILO AT WISCONSIN EXPERIMENT STATION. 
Diameter, 16 feet; height, 27 feet ; capacity, about 80 tons. 

three feet wide and four feet high, so as to 
leave room for a man to enter by the side of 
the carrier. Of the feeding doors there should 
be about three in a height of twenty -four feet. 
They should be about two feet wide by three 
or four feet high, and studding should be set' 
with reference to them at first, making them 
double where the sides are to come. To make 



SILOS. 



71 



the doors, saw two cleats for eacli door out of 
4x6's, having the curvature of the sides of the 
silo, and to these nail on the inside two layers 
of matched four-inch flooring, up and down, 
with tar paper between, and one layer outside. 
Hinge with six-inch T hinges, and fasten shut 
with two strips of half-inch band-iron, IJ 
inches wide and 18 inches long, bolted to the 




FIG. 13.- ROUND WOODtN SILO. 
Dormer window kept open for ventilation when silo is in use. (From a photograph.) 

cleats of the door, and provided with a long 
hole, which shuts over a half-inch bolt put 
through the studding, and provided with a 
handle-nut, like that on the rod of the end- 
board of a wagon." 

Round silos, built according to the preced- 
ing or similar plans, have proved very satis- 
factory after several years' trial. We believe 
that this type, made either of wood, stone, 



72 



MAKING AND FEEDING SILAGE. 



brick, or grout, are destined to become the silo 
type of the future, at least on our continent; 
hence we have given up considerable space to 
detailed directions for its construction. While 
the round silo has some limitations and draw- 
backs, its advantages will, in most cases, out- 
weigh these. Among the disadvantages may 
be mentioned the greater skill required' (or 
supposed to be required) to build a round 
structure than a square one. This is not 
based on fact, but is caused by unfamiliarity 
with the construction of such buildings. 

Since the capacity of round silos is not as 
readily computed as in case of rectangular silos, 
we reproduce here a table, given by Professor 
King, which shows at a glance the approximate 
number of tons of silage that a round silo, of a 
diameter from 15 to 26 feet, and 20 to 32 
feet deep, will hold. 

Table Giving the Approximate Capacity op Cylin- 
drical Silos for Well-Matured Corn Silage, in Tons. 



Depth 

OP 








lifsiDE Diameter oi 


" Silo 


, Feet. 






Silo, 


























Pbet. 


15 


16 


17 


18 
85 


19 


20 


21 


22 


23 
138 


24 


25 


26 


20 


59 


67 


76 


94 


105 


115 


127 


151 


163 


177 


21 


63 


72 


81 


91 


101 


112 


123 


135 


148 


161 


175 


189 


22 


67 


77 


86 


97 


108 


120 


132 


145 


158 


172 


187 


202 


2S 


72 


82 


92 


103 


115 


128 


141 


154 


169 


184 


199 


216 


24 


76 


87 


98 


110 


122 


135 


149 


164 


179 


195 


212 


229 


25 


81 


90 


104 


116 


129 


143 


158 


173 


190 


206 


224 


242 


26 


85 


97 


110 


123 


137 


152 


168 


184 


201 


219 


237 


257 


27 


90 


103 


116 


130 


145 


160 


177 


194 


212 


231 


251 


271 


28 


95 


108 


122 


137 


152 


169 


186 


204 


223 


243 


264 


285 


29 


100 


114 


128 


144 


160 


178 


196 


215 


235 


256 


278 


300 


30 


105 


119 


135 


151 


168 


187 


20() 


226 


247 


269 


292 


315 


31 


110 


125 


141 


158 


176 


195 


215 


236 


258 


282 


305 


330 


32 


115 


136 


148 


166 


185 


205 


226 


248 


271 


295 


320 


346 



SILOS. 73 

B. Stone or Brick Silos. 

These silos are usually more expensive than 
wooden ones, but, in return, they will last 
longer when carefully built. Some of the lirst 
silos built in Wisconsin and other North- 
western states were made of stone, and are 
still in good condition, which can not be said 
about the earliest wooden silos made. Stone 
silos are easily built, being just like a cellar 
wall, if possible without any opening excej^t 
the door, and provided with a roof like any 
other silo. The walls should be at least sixteen 
inches thick, and should be jacketed with 
wood on the outside, to prevent injury from 
frost, and to form dead-air spaces, which will 
insure perfect preservation of the silage clear 
up to the silo wall. The earlier stone silos 
built were not protected in this manner, and, 
as a result, the silage often spoilt several 
inches around the walls, the stone being more 
or less porous, and being a fairly good con- 
ductor of heat and cold. This applies still 
more to brick than to stone walls. With the 
outside covering nailed to studdings, 2x4, no 
trouble will, however, be experienced in either 
case. Ventilation of the silo frame must be 
provided for as in the case of wooden silos. 

The following arrangement of constructing 
stone silos lias proved very convenient, and 
will make good, substantial silos. The silo is 



74 MAKING AND FEEDING SILAGE. 

built five to six feet into the ground, if it can 
safely be done; the foundation wall is made 
two feet thick, and at the level of the ground 
a 4x6 sill is laid on the outer edge of the 
wall and bedded in mortar; a wooden frame 
is then erected of 2x6 studding, sheeted on 
the inside with common flooring, and on the 
outside with ship-lap boarding, with or with- 
out building paper on the studding. The 
stone wall is then continued on the inside 
of this wooden frame up to the plate, the 
corners well rounded off, and the whole inside 
cemented. 

The stone or brick wall must be made smooth 
by means of a heavy coat of a first-class cement. 
Since the acid juices of silage are apt to grad- 
ually soften the cement, it may be found neces- 
sary to protect the coating by a whitewash with 
pure cement every other year before the silo is 
filled. If this precaution is taken, the silo will 
last for generations ; some of the earliest stone 
silos built in this country have now been filled 
every year for nearly twenty years without de- 
teriorating perceptibly. 

Like the wooden silos, these maybe rectangu- 
lar, square, or circular ; if according to either of 
the first two forms, the corners should be 
rounded off so as to assist the settling of the 
siloed mass, and avoid loss through insufficient 
packing of the mass in the corners. 



SILOS. 75 

C. Grout Silos. 

Where stone is scarce, and lumber high, the 
best silo is made of grout. Grout silos may be 
made according to the following directions : 
"Having excavated for the silo, dig a trench 
all around the bottom, and fill it with cobble- 
stone, and from one corner lead a drain, if pos- 
sible, so as to carry off all water. The trench 
under the proposed walls of the silo being filled 
with cobble-stones, place standards of scantling- 
long enough to extend 12 inches higher than 
the top of the wall when it is finished. Place 
these standards on each side of the i^roposed 
wall, and if you desire the walls to be 20 inches 
thick, place the standards 23 inches apart, a 
pair of standards being placed every 5 or 6 feet 
around the entire foundation ; be particular to 
have the standards exactly i:)lumb, and in line ; 
fasten the bottoms of standards firmly in the 
ground, or by nailing a strip of wood across at 
the bottom of the standards, and a little below 
where the floor of the silo will be ; fasten the 
tops of the standards by a heavy cross-piece 
securely nailed, and fasten the pairs of stand- 
ards in their plumb positions by shores reach- 
ing the bank outside. Planks 11-2 inches 
thick and 14 inches wide are now placed edge- 
wise inside the standards, 20 inches apart, 
thus forming a box, 14 inches deep, and running 
all along and around the entire foundation of 



76 MAKING AND FEEDING SILAGE. 

the proposed wall. Fill this box with alternate 
layers of cobble-stone or any rough stone, etc., 
and mortar or concrete. First a layer of mor- 
tar, and then a layer of stones, not allowing 
the stones to come quite out to the boxing 
j)lank, but having concrete over the edges ; 
the concrete must be stamped down solid. 

The concrete is prepared as follows : One 
part of good cement is mixed thoroughly with 
four parts of dry sand, and then with six parts 
of clear gravel ; make into a thin mortar, 
sprinkling with water over the same by means 
of a sprinkler, and use at once. Put an inch or 
two of this mortar into the box, and then bed 
in cobble-stones; fill in with mortar, again 
covering the stones, and again put in a layer of 
stone. When the box is filled, and the mortar 
' ' set ' ' so that the wall is firm, raise the box one 
foot, leaving t\AO inches lap of plank on wall 
below, and go around again, raising the wall 
one foot each day, or every second day, accord- 
ing to the amount of labor on hand. If no 
gravel is obtainable, use five barrels of sand to 
one of cement, and bed in all the cobble-stones 
possible. Stone with rough edges are better 
than smooth ones, as tbey bind the wall more 
thoroughly, but any flat stones found about the 
fields will do as well. A layer of loose cobble- 
stones slionld be placed against the outside wall 
before the earth is brought against it, so as to 
have an air space, and a free passage for water. 



SiLOS. 



77 



As in case of the stone silos, the inside walls 
of grout silos must be made i^erfectly smooth, 
and preserved from softening by means of occa- 
sional whitewashings with pure cement ; they 
must also be protected from frost by an outside 
wooden lining nailed on the 2x4 studding. 

D. Stave Silos. 

These are wooden silos of a similar construc- 
tion as laro;e railroad tanks. The stave silos 




FIG. 14.— TWIN STAVE SILO, KENOSHA COUNTY, WIS. 
From a photograph. 

have found some enthusiastic friends, and 
their merits and demerits have been thoroughly 
discussed of late years in the agricultural press ; 
they can not be recommended, both on account 
of the danger of the staves shrinking in sum- 
mer, making the silo leaky, and on account of 
the danger of frost in such silos, and, finally, 



78 MAKING AND FEEDING SILAGfi. 

because a substantial stave silo will cost greatly 
more than a first-class wooden silo of the same 
capacity. A 150-ton stave silo built in 1894 in 
Michigan is described as follows, by a writer in 
Hoard' s Dairyman', ' 'Diameter, 20 feet; height, 
24 feet ; made from 3-inch tank plank of selected 
hard pine, free from sap, shakes, or unsound 
knots, sides built perpendicular. Silo carried 
on twenty-one piers on which rest five main 
sills of 8x 8 inch. Crosswise on these sills are 
placed the chine joists, 6x8 inches, placed 
eighteen inches between centers, and on these 
rests the bottom of the silo, Avhich is of same 
stock as staves. Chine in staves 3-4 inch deep. 
Eighteen substantial hoops of band steel are 
used, with three pairs of adjustable or take-up 
lugs, with draw-rods on each hoop. Size of 
hoox)s ranges from 3-16 inch thick by 6 inches 
wide at bottom to 1-8 inch thick by 3 inches 
wide at toj), properly spaced. 

"In one side of silo are three delivery doors 
24 inches square, placed one above the other, 
five feet apart. These are made wedge sliaj)ed 
and are secured by specially heavy wrought- 
iron hinges and staj^les. 

"A special frost-proof roof is employed, con- 
ical in shape, with galvanized iron ventilator, 3 
feet in diameter in center, which ventilator is 
provided with frost-proof traji door for use 
when needed. The roof is formed by two thick- 
nesses of inch boards, tightly fitted with tarred 



. SILOS. 79 

sheeting paper between and also on tojD, and 
then shingled. 'No rafters are used, but truss 
circles take their place, leaving clear s^iace 
under the roof, affording opportunity to fill up 
enough to allow for settling or shrinkage. 
K-oof has two trap doors, frost-proof. 

"Outside painted two coats of best paint and 
inside coated all over with tar. Our silo is 
water-tight, except at three doors, and these 
are as nearly so asj^ossible, and in hlling silo we 
face these on inside with tarred sheeting i^ai^er, 
and with the adjustable hoops we have the 
means to always keejD it tight. Frost cannot 
penetrate three inches of hard june, neither can 
it i^enetrate the roof of the ventilator when the 
traj) door is closed. 

'•This silo w^as set up in one day by five men, 
but was not roofed or xminted. No scaffolding 
was used except to place roof, and that was a 
staging carried on four uprights placed inside 
of silo." 

E. Metal Silos. 

Solid steel silos have been put on the market, 
but it is not known wdiat kind of results they 
have given in the limited number of cases where 
they have been tried in practice. They are 
built of homogeneous steel i3late, lai3ped and 
double-riveted so as to make them x)erfecrly 
air-tight. According to Professor Waters, the 
cost is about $4 -pev ton capacity, or more 



80 MAKING AND FEEDING SILAGE. 

than twice the amount which will build a first- 
class modern stone silo. It is difficult to see 
what advantage a steel silo would have over 
these ; on the other hand, the danger of frost is 
far greater ; the silage juices will furthermore 
attack the steel, and slowly corrode the wall, 
in spite of any paint or preservative that may 
be put on the inside. 

F. Silo Stacks. 

It is somewhat strange that the practice of 
stack silage has not yet found any distribution 
in the United States, since it has met with such 
great favor hi foreign countries, esx)ecially in 
Great Britain, where, according to official statis- 
tics, 1,362 i)ersons in 1887 reported their inten- 
tion of making silage stacks, against twenty- 
seven in 1886 ; the number given for 1887 is half 
of the total number of silos existing in that year. 
No official data are at hand during late years, 
but as far as we are able to judge, the silo stacks 
have increased far more rapidly in England 
than other forms. The main objections to 
silage stacks in this country would seem to be 
the danger of frost and of excessive fermenta- 
tive losses on account of the x3robable drying 
out of the fodder on top and the sides. Until 
practical experiments have been made, we can 
not, however, know anything definitely as 
regards these points. 

The stack system has been adopted, besides 



SILOS. 



81 



in Great Britain, in Sweden, on the Euro- 
pean Continent, and in Australia, every- 
where seemingly with great success. There 




FIG. 15.— BLUNT'S SILO STACK. ROUND FORM 



I are mainly two systems in use, the Blunt 

and the Johnson silage press; the fodder is 

\ stacked in both systems and the stacks pressed 

I down by heavy weights or by means of ratchet 



82 



MAKING AND FEEDING SILAGE. 



drams. The capacity of the Blunt press is about 
100 tons. The amount of waste under English 
conditions is stated to be about li per cent and 
not to exceed 2 per cent, which the advocates 
of the system claim is less than interest on the 
money that has to be put into a separate silo 
structure. Results of German experiments do 




FIG. 16.— BLUNT'S SILO STACK, SQUARE FORM. 

not, however, show such small losses as those 
given above. Wolff placed forty-eight tons of 
meadow^ hay in a silo stack, of which quantity 
only twenty-four tons was good silage ; forty 
tons was weighed back in all, so that sixteen 
tons or 33 per cent must have spoiled on the top 
and the sides of the stack. Miiller obtained 



SILOS. 



83 



somewliat better results ; 132 tons of vetcli fod- 
der and sugar beet leaves were stacked in a 




FIG. 17.— JOHNSON'S SILO STACK. 




FIG. 18.— CROSS SECTION OF JOHNSON'S SILO STACK. 

Blunt' s silage press; there was a loss on the 
outside and top amounting to about seven tons 



84 



MAKING AKD FEEDING SILAGE. 



(5.4 per cent), while nearly 103 tons (77.9 per 
cent) of the silage was fed out to cattle. 

Preservation of Silos. 

A silo building will prove a rather short-lived 
structure unless special precautions are taken 




.^\::^ 



'f'^i/<r>^,i?r-fe 



'^ /> 



r "-y^' 
&■"'/ 











RAMSTROM'S SILO STACK. 



to preserve it. This holds good of all kinds of 
silos, but more especially of wooden ones, since a 
cement coating in a stone silo, even if only fairly 
well made, will better resist the action of the sil- 
age juices than the woodwork will be able to keep 
sound in the presence of moisture, high tem- 
perature, and an abundance of bacterial life. 



SILOS. 85 

We have seen that the inside of the walls of 
stone silos should be given a whitewash of pure 
cement as often as found necessary, which may 
be every two years, and perhaps not as often. 
The degree of moisture and acidity in the silage 
made is, doubtless, of im]3ortance in this re- 
spect, as a very sour silage made from imma- 
ture corn will be likely to soften the cement 
coating sooner than so-called sweet silage made 
from nearly mature corn. 

In case of wooden silos it is necessary to ap- 
ply some material which will render the wood 
impervious to w^ater, and preserve it from decay. 
A great variety of preparations have been re- 
commended and used for this purpose. Coal 
tar has been applied by a large number of 
farmers, and has been found effective and dur- 
able. It may be put on either hot, alone, or 
mixed with resin, or dissolved in gasoline. If 
it is to be applied hot, some of the oil contained 
in the tar must previously be burnt off. The 
tar is x:)oured into an iron kettle, a handful of 
straw is ignited and thrown into the kettle, 
which will cause the oil to flash and burn off. 
The tar is sufficiently burnt wlien it will string 
out in fine threads, a foot or more in length, 
from a stick which has been thrust into the 
blazing kettle and afterwards plunged into cold 
water. The fire is then put out by placing a 
tight cover over the kettle. The kettle must 
be kept over the fire until the silo lining has been 



8(^ MAKING AND FEEDING SILAGE. 

gone over. A mop or a small whisk broom cut 
short, so it is stiff, may serve for i^utting on the 
tar. 

Coal tar and gasoline have also been used by 
many with good success. About half a gallon 
of coal tar and two-thirds of a gallon of gaso- 
line are mixed at a time, stirring it while it is 
being put on. Since gasoline is highly inflam- 
mable, care must be taken not to have any Are 
around when this mixture is applied. Lathing 
and x)lastering of the silo walls are used by 
some farmers; the metliod can not, however, be 
recommended, since tlie plastering is very apt 
to crack and break off, even if great care is 
taken to preserve the walls intact. 

I have not seen any silo walls in better condi- 
tion than those of a number of Wisconsin silos, 
preserved by aj)x>lication of a mixture of equal 
parts of boiled linseed oil and black oil, or one 
part of the former to two of the latter. 
This mixture, applied every other year, before 
filling time, seems to preserve the lining per- 
fectly. In building round silos. Professor King 
recommends painting the boards with hot coal 
tar^ and x^lacing the painted sides face to face. 
Ordinary red ochre and linseed oil have also 
been used by some farmers; others prefer to line 
the whole inside with building paper every 
time the silo is to be filled, in the manner ex- 
XDlained by Mr. Gould. (See page 59.) 

Walls of wooden silos that have been pre- 



SILOS. 87 

served by one or the other of these methods 
will only keep sound and free from decay if the 
silos are built so as to insure good ventilation. 
Preservatives will not save a non- ventilated 
silo structure from decay. 

Cost of Silos. 

The cost of a silo will depend greatly on local 
conditions, as to price of labor and materials; 
how much labor has to be paid foi"; the size of 
the silo, etc. The author, in the spring of 1895, 
made some inquiries in regard to this point 
among farmers in different States of tlie Union 
who have built silos, with the following results : 

The cheapest silos are those built in bays of 
barns, as would be exx)ected, since roof and 
outside lining are here already at hand. Num- 
ber of silos included, fourteen; average capac- 
ity, 140 tons; average cost of silos, $92, or 65 
cents per ton capacity. 

Next come the square or rectangular wooden 
silos. Number of silos included, twenty-five; 
average capacity, 194 tons; average cost of silos, 
$285, or $1.46 per ton capacity. 

The round silos follow closely the square 
wooden ones in point of cost. Only seven silos 
were included, all but one of which were made 
of wood. Average capacity, 237 tons ; average 
cost, $368, or $1.54 per ton capacity. The data 
for the six round wooden silos are as follows : 
Average cajDacity, 228 tons ; average cost, $346, 



88 MAKING AND FEEDING SILAGE. 

or $1.52 per ton capacity. The one round ce- 
ment silo cost $500, and had a capacity of 300 
tons (dimensions: diameter, 30 feet ; depth, 21 
feet); cost per ton capacity, $1.67. 

The stone or cement silos are the most expen- 
sive in first cost, as is shown by the data ob- 
tained. Number of silos included, nine ; aver- 
age capacity, 288 tons ; average cost, $577, or 
$1.93 per ton capacity. 

The great difference in the cost of different 
silos of the same kind is a]3parent without much 
reflection. The range in cost per ton capacity in 
the twenty-five wooden silos included in the 
preceding summary was from 70 cents to $3.60. 
The former figure was obtained with a 144-ton 
silo, 20 X 18 X 20 feet ; and the latter with a 140- 
ton silo, built as follows : Dimensions, 14x28x 
18 feet ; 2 x 12 x 18 feet studdings, set 12 inches 
apart ; two thicknesses of dimension boards in- 
side, with paper between, sheeting outside with 
paper nailed on studding ; cement fioor. Par- 
ticulars are lacking as regards the first silo, 
beyond its dimensions. 

A good many figures entering into the preced- 
ing summaries are doubtless somewhat too low; 
if all labor put on the silo is to be paid for, 
for in some cases the cost of work done by 
the farmers themselves was not figured in 
with the other ex]3enses. As most farmers 
would do some of the work themselves, the 
figures given may, however, be taken to rep- 



SILOS. 89 

resent the cash outlay in building silos. In 
a general way, it may be said that a silo can 
be built in the bay of a barn for less than 75 cents 
per ton capacity; a round or a good square or 
rectangular wooden silo for abont $1.50, and a 
stone or cement silo for about $2 per ton capac- 
ity, all figures being subject to variations ac- 
cording to local prices of labor and materials. 

I believe that cheaj), poorly-constructed silos 
have done more to prejudice large numbers of 
farmers against silage, and impede the progress 
of the silo, than any other one cause ; if it pays 
to build a silo at all, it pays to bnild a good 
one, and none but silos built to last should be 
put up. Many of the early wooden silos built 
were not made with an eye to the future, or 
rather, it was not then suspected that silos are 
as easily destroyed as a few years' experience 
plainly showed them to be. We now provide 
against the decay of the silo, as we have seen, 
by securing good ventilation, and by preserving 
the woodwork ; in the cement or stone silo we 
whitewash with pure water-lime. In either case, 
it is often found convenient and advantageous 
to put in a cement or concrete floor. All these 
matters increase the cost of the silo, but in 
return, silos thus built will last for an indefinite 
length of time, and will not require much out- 
lay after first cost. 

Professor King figures that round silos will 
cost about 14 cents per square foot of surface, 



90 



MAKING AND FEEDING SILAGE. 



and on basis of this figure arrives at the follow- 
ing cost of round silos of different dimensions. 

Approximate Cost of Round Wooden Silos, Thirty Feet 
Deep, their Capacities and Cost per Ton of Silage. 



i. 

OB o 

o 


PI 
O 

d 
Q 


en 

O 

O 

"3 
o 
Eh 


d 
o 
Eh 

a> 
ft 
+j 
to 
O 

O 


02 

^ o 
O 




Total Cost. 


S 

u 

o 

O 

o 


16 feet.... 


105 


$239.26 


$2.28i 


24 feet.... 


247 


$379.96 


$1.54 


17 feet.... 


119 


256.06 


2.15 


25 feet. . 




269 


398.58 


1.48 


18 feet.... 


135 


273.00 


2.03 


26 feet.. 




292 


417.34 


1.43 


19 feet.... 


150 


290.36 


1.92 


27 feet.. 




315 


436.52 


1.38 


20 feet.... 


168 


307.86 


1.83 


28 feet.. 




340 


455.70 


1.34 


21 feet.... 


187 


325.50 


1.74 


29 feet.. 




366 


475.16 


1.30 


23 feet.... 


206 


343.42 


1.67 


30 feet.. 




392 


494.76 


1.26 


23 feet.... 


226 


361.48 


1.60 


31 feet.. 




419 


514.78 


1.23 



The data given in the preceding table show 
plainly that large silos are more economical 
than small ones. The expense per ton cajDacity 
of a 400 ton silo is thus only a little more than 
half of that of a 100- ton silo ; the cost per ton 
capacity of the two silos being $2.28 and $1.23, 
for a 100 and 400- ton silo, respectively. 

The following statements of the cost of the 
three types of silos were prepared by the same 
writer ; comparisons are made with a stone silo 
of 200 tons capacity, costing $500 ; the silo is 
14 X 24 feet inside, and 30 feet deep, 22 feet 
above ground. It is covered on the outside 
with dimension boards, battened, extending up 
and down, and nailed to 2 x 4 studding, held in 
place by hooked pieces of band irons laid in the 
wall. 



SILOS. 91 

Rectangular Silo, 200 Tons. 

Foundation, 13.44 perch at $1.20 $ 16.13 

Studding, 2x12, 28 feet, 8,736 feet at $20 174.72 

Sills, etc., 2x10, 26 feet, 206 feet at $19 4.94 

Sills, etc., 2x10, 16 feet, 426 feet at $14 5.96 

Rafters, etc., 2x4, 20 feet, 400 feet at $16 6.40 

Roof boards, fencing, 450 feet at $15 6.75 

Shingles, 5 M at $3 15.00 

Drop siding, 8 inch, 2,779 feet at $16 44.46 

Lining, sur. fencing, 4,256 feet at $15 63.84 

Tarred paper, 426 lbs. at 2 cents 8.52 

Coal tar, 1 barrel 4.50 

Painting, 60 cents per square 15.00 

Nails and hinges 10.00 

Cementing bottom 5 00 

Eighteen 3-4 inch bolts, 18 inches long 2.70 

Carpenter labor at $3 per M, and board 41.16 

Total $425.08 

Round Silo, 200 Tons, 

20 feet inside diameter, 30 feet deep. 

Foundation, 7.5 perch at $1.20 $ 9.00 

Studs 2x4, 14 and 16 feet, 1,491 feet at $14 20.93 

Rafters, 2x4, 12 feet, 208 feet at $14 2.91 

Roof boards, fencing, 500 feet at $15 7.50 

Shingles, 6 M at $3 18.00 

Siding, rabbeted, 2,660 feet at $23 61.18 

Lining, fencing, ripped, 2,800 feet at $18 50.40 ^ 

Tarred paper, 740 lbs. at 2 cents 14.80 

Coal tar, 1 barrel 4.50 

Hardware 6.00 

Painting, 60 cents per square 13.80 

Cementing bottom 5.00 

Carpenter labor at $3 per M, and board 33.17 

Total $246.59 



92 MAKING AND FEEDING SILAGE. 

"The three silos are outside, and whollj^ in- 
dependent structures, except the entrance and 
feeding chute sliown in Fig. 10, wliich con- 
nects with the barn. Tliis metliod of connec- 
tion for outside silos, while a little more costly, 
is, I feel confident, much the best in the long 
run." 

It may be in order to state, in comparing the 
figures given in the preceding statements with 
the average data for the cost of the different 
silo types obtained by the writer, that the 
round silos in the latter summary w^ere built 
uniformly better than the rectangular wooden 
silos included, and according to modern re- 
quirements, while many of the lattei- were old 
and of a comparatively cheap construction, so 
that the figures cannot be taken to represent 
the relative value of rectangular and round 
silos built equally well. 



CHAPTER III.— SILAGE. 
Filling the Silo. 

Having built our silo, we proceed to fill it 
with the fodder grown for the purpose. Since 
Indian corn is our main silage croj), we shall 
first consider the siloing of corn, and after- 
ward take up other crops. We saw before that 
corn should be allowed to pass through the 
dough stage before cutting, /. e., when the ker- 
nels are well dented, or glazed, in case of flint 
varieties. Where very large silos are filled, and 
in cases of extreme dry weather when the corn 
is fast drying up, it will be well to begin filling 
the silo a little before it has reached this stage, 
as the greater portion of the corn would other- 
wise be apt to be too dry. There is, however, 
less danger in this respect now than formerly, on 
account of our modern deep silos, and because 
we have found that water applied directly 
to the fodder in the silo acts in the same way 
as water in the fodder, and keeps the fermenta- 
tions in the silo in the right track. 

Cutting the Cokn in the Field.— The cut- 
ting of corn for the silo is usually done by hand 
by means of a corn knife. Some farmers are 

(93) 



94 



MAKING AND FEEDING SILAGE. 



using a self -raking Cliampion reaper for this 
purpose, while others report good success with 
a sled or platform cutter. If the corn stands 
up well, and is not a very large variety, the 
end sought may be reached in a satisfactory 
manner by either of these methods. If, on the 
other hand, much of the corn is down, resort 
must be had to hand cutting. A number of 







FIG. 20.— McCORMICK'S CORN HARVESTER. 

different makes of corn harvesters and corn 
cutters have been i3laced on the market during 
the past season; it is very likely that hand cut- 
ting of fodder corn will be largely done away 
with in years to come, at least on large farms; 
indeed, it looks as if the day of the corn-knife 
was passing away, and as if this implement that 
has figured so long will soon be relegated to 
obscurity with the sickle of our fathers' time. 



FILLING THE SILO. 95 

Fig. 20 shows the latest and most im- 
proved machine that cuts corn and binds it 
into bundles of a convenient size, thus savins- 
one-third of the work necessitated by handling 
loose stalks in the field and at the cutter. 

The corn is bound whilst standing on end, 
thereby assuring a square butt to the bundles 
and making a secure shock. The machine is 
built by the McCormicks in Chicago, and, 
according to the testimony of the farmers who 
have in use the 8,000 that were manufactured 
last season, it is a perfect machine for its 
purpose. 

A platform cutter, which has been used with 
great success, is described by the veteran Wis- 
consin dairyman, Mr. Charles R. Beach, in a 
communication to the author: 

'' We use two wagons, with platforms built 
upon two timbers, eighteen feet long, sus- 
pended beneath the axles. These platforms are 
about eighteen inches from the ground and are 
seven feet wide. The cutting-knife is fastened 
upon a small removable platform, two feet by 
about three and one-half feet, which is attached 
to the side of the large platform, and is about 
six or eight inches lower. One row is cut at a 
time, the knife striking the corn at an angle of 
about forty-five degrees. One man kneels on 
the small platform and takes the corn with his 
arm; two or three men stand upon the wagon, 
and as soon as he has gotten an armful, the 



96 MAKING AND FEEDING SILAGE. 

men, each in turn, take it from liim and pile it 
on the wagon. If the rows are long enough a 
load of one and one-half to two tons can be cut 
and loaded on in about eight to ten minutes. 
The small platform is detached from the 
wagon, the load driven to the silo, the plat- 
form attached to the other wagon, and another 
load is cut and loaded. None of the corn 
reaches the ground; no bending down to pick 
up. One team will draw men, cutter, and load, 
and I do not now well see how the method 
could be improved. With a steam engine, a 
large cutter, two teams and wagons, and ten 
men, we filled our silo, 22x24x18 feet (190 

tons), fast, in less than two days. Mr. 

owned the whole outfit, and filled his own 
and several silos for his neighbors, the same 
gang of men doing the work." 

Professor Georgeson of Kansas Experiment 
Station has described a one-horse sledge-cutter 
which has given better satisfaction than any 
fodder-cutter tried at that station. It is pro- 
vided with two knives, which are hinged to the 
body of the sled, and can be folded in on the 
sled when not in use. It has been improved 
and made easier to pull by i3roviding it with 
four low and broad cast-iron wheels. It is pulled 
by a single horse and cuts two rows at a time. 
Two men stand upon the cutter, each facing a 
row; as the corn is cut they gather it into arm- 
f uls, which they drop in heaps on the ground. 



TILLING THE SILO. 



97 



A wagon with a low, broad rack follows, on 
which the corn is loaded and hauled to the silo. 
A low-down rack for hauling the cut corn 
to the cutter is shown in the accompanying 
illustration (Fig. 22). It has been used for 
some years past at the Wisconsin Experiment 
Station, and is a great convenience in handling 
corn, saving both labor and time. Professor 
King states that these racks not only dispense 
with a man upon the wagon when loading, but 




FIG. 22.— LOW-DOWN RACK FOR HAULING FODDER CORN. 

they materially lessen the labor of the man 
who takes the corn from the ground, for it is 
only the top of the load which needs to be 
raised shoulder-high; again, when it comes to 
unloading, the man can stand on the Hoor or 
ground and simply draw the corn toward him 
and lay it upon the table of the cutter, wdthout 
stooping over and without raising the corn up 
to again throw^ it down. A plank that can 
easily be hitched on behind the truck will 
prove convenient for loading, so that the loader 



98 MAKING AND FEEDING SILAGE. 

can pick up liis armfol and, walking np the 
plank, can drop it without much exertion. 

A very cheap and convenient sled for hauling 
fodder corn from the field has been recommended 
by Professor Hickman of Ohio Experiment Sta- 
tion; it is said to answer all purposes if the 
silo corn is not too far from the silo: The 
sled can be made out of a cou^dIo of 2x 10 or 
2 X 12 x)lanks, say twelve feet long. Four 2x4 
cross pieces, well mortised into the planks, and 
fastened by 20-penny nails, will finish the sled, 
excei^t the trimming of the runners so that 
they will have a well-formed curve on the front 
end. Loose boards thrown upon this kind of 
sled will enable one to haul very easily a ton 
of fodder at a load; and by placing the butts 
of the fodder corn all one Avay and putting a 
3x3 scantling under the tops the load can be 
unloaded when it arrives at the cutter by two 
hands taking each an end of the scantling, and 
raising that side of the load until the fodder 
corn is turned comjiletely over. In hauling 
the fodder corn long distances a low-down 
rack similar to the one shown in Fig. 22 should 
be used. 

If wilted fodder corn is to be siloed it should 
be shocked in the field to protect it as much as 
possible from rain before hauling it to the 
cutter. 

Whole against Cut Silage.— One import- 
ant matter to be decided at this point is whether 



JFILLING THE SILO. 99 

or not the corn is to be cut before being filled 
into the silo. In the large majority of cases 
corn is run through a feed-cutter on being 
siloed. This is, however, by no means neces- 
sary, as it may be siloed whole with perfect 
success; in some localities and by some farmers, 
this practice is followed exclusively. The 
advocates of whole silage claim, with a good 
deal of plausibility, that there will be smaller 
losses from fermentations with whole than with 
cut silage, and that silos Avill be less subject to 
decay when corn is siloed whole than the other 
way. No direct proof of either of these state- 
ments is, however, at hand, and the practice 
followed must be decided by the greater advan- 
tages of one system or the other in the opinion 
of each farmer. 

In exj)eriments with whole and cut corn 
silage, conducted at the Massachusetts Experi- 
ment Station in 1884-85, the conclusion drawn 
was that the silage obtained from whole 
plants was in a better state of preservation 
than that which had been obtained from the 
same quality of corn previously cut into pieces 
of from IJ to li inches in length. The 
mechanical condition of the whole corn silage 
was less satisfactory for feeding purposes, as 
far as an economical consumption of the same 
weight of both is concerned, than that pro- 
duced from corn j^reviously cut. 

The savino- of machinery, cutter, and carrier 



loo MAKING AND FEEDIIfG SILAGE. 

makes an important point in favor of the 
whole silage, especially for small farmers, 
while the greater ease with which the cut 
silage may be fed out is in favor of the cutting 
of the corn crop. Professor Cook of Michigan 
says on this point: "My silo, fifteen feet 
square and twenty feet high, cost less than 
|130, and my feed-cutter, with an eighteen-foot 
carrier, also costs more than $100. But 
the same tread-power enables me to cut all 
my dry corn stalks and oat straw at a great 
saving, and to grind all my oats and corn at a 
slight expense, with one of the excellent Amer- 
ican grinders, while the cutter is also used as 
just indicated. For safety and convenience in 
feeding I prefer to run all the corn through 
a cutter. I believe that silos will soon be so 
common that engines and cutters will go 
from farm to farm, as threshers do now; 
then even the small farmers may cut the mate- 
rial for the silo, and yet not need to own the 
expensive machinery. I believe that it will 
pay even the small farmer to own the machin- 
ery, if he can purchase without incurring 
debt." 

In siloing fodder corn whole, it is well to 
grow the smaller varieties and to plant rather 
thickly. One successful whole silage farmer 
thus uses as much as twenty to twenty-four 
quarts of seed to the acre, which gives a stalk 
of corn nearly every inch, with rows 8^ feet 



FILLING THE SILO. 101 

apart. We have seen that a maximum of food 
materials per acre can not be expected from 
such close planting. Others use onl}^ half this 
amount and have equally good, or most likely 
better, whole silage. Too close planting is to 
be avoided, both on account of the decreased 
yield of dry matter from the land and the large 
amount of acid found in silage made from very 
immature corn. A medium thick planting, 
obtained by using, e. g. , ten to twelve quarts per 
acre, is profitable for whole silage, .for two 
reasons —the com may be handled more easily, 
both in filling it into the silo and in feeding it 
out, and there is no waste in feeding, since 
cattle will eat the slender stalks and leave 
nothing of the silage. 

In siloing corn whole it is put into the silo 
in a systematic manner; beginning with a 
small armful in one corner of the silo, bundles 
of the same size are placed along the wall in a 
tier; then another tier is formed close up to 
the first one, being laid in the opi)osite direc- 
tion, and successive tiers are formed in the 
same way until the whole bottom of the silo is 
covered. When the first layer has been formed, 
a second one is put on top of it, starting with 
bundles where the first layer was finished, and 
completing it where the first layer was begun; 
in the same way layer after layer is put on until 
the silo is full. Every time a corner is reached 
a number of stalks are bent in the middle and 



102 MAKING AA^D FEEDING SILAGE, 

pressed down solidly in the corner, so as to 
leave no empty space. When the silage is to be 
fed out, the silo is emptied from the top in 
exactly the opposite direction from that in 
which it was filled; the different bundles and 
tiers will then separate from the rest of the 
silage without much trouble, although at best 
the process of feeding out whole silage must 
be considered back-aching work. 

Farmers who can not very w^ell afford to buy 
the machinery necessary for cutting corn for 
the silo should make whole silage until they 
find themselves able to invest in a cutter, if 
they should prefer a change. While siloing 
whole corn may not be any saving in the end, 
the first cost of making silage will be greatly 
lessened by following this method. Better 
whole silage than none at all; better cut silage 
than whole, in the majority of cases, at least. 

Siloing Corn "Ears and All." — It is the 
practice of a great many farmers to silo the 
whole corn plant without previously husking 
it. If the ear corn is not needed for hogs and 
horses, or for seed puri)oses, this practice is in 
the line of economy, as it saves the expense of 
husking, cribbing, shelling, and grinding the 
ear corn. The possible loss of food materials 
sustained in siloing the ear corn speaks against 
the x>ractice, but this is, as we shall see, very 
small, and more than counterbalanced by the 
advantages gained by this method of i^ro- 



FILLING THE SILO. 103 

cedure. In proof of this statement it may be 
well to give here briefly the results of a some- 
what extended feeding trial with milch cows, 
conducted by the author in 1891, at the Wis- 
consin Experiment Station. 

Corresponding rows of a large corn fleld were 
siloed, "ears and all" and without ears, the 
ears belonging to the latter lot being carefully 
saved and air-dried. The total jdeld of silage 
with ears in it (whole-corn silage) was 56,459 
pounds ; of silage without ears (stover silage), 
34,496 pounds, and of ear corn, 10,511 i)ounds. 
The dry matter content of the lots obtained by 
the two methods of treatment was, in whole 
corn silage, 19,950 pounds; in stover silage 
9,484 pounds, and in ear corn 9,122 pounds, or 
18,606 pounds of dry matter in the stover 
silage and ear corn combined. This shows a 
loss of 1,344 x^ounds of dry matter, or nearly 
7 per cent, sustained by handling the fodder 
and ear corn separately instead of siloing the 
corn ' ' ears and all." 

In feeding the two kinds of silage against 
each other, adding the dry ear corn to the stover 
silage, it was found that seventeen tons of 
whole-corn silage fed to sixteen cows produced 
somewhat better results than fourteen tons of 
stover silage, and more than two tons of dry 
ear corn, both kinds of silage having been sup- 
X)lemented by the same quantities of hay and 
grain feed. The yield of milk from the cows 



104 MAKING AIS^D FEEDING SILAGE. 

was 4 per cent higher on the whole-corn silage 
ration than on the stover silage ration, and the 
yield of fat was 6.9 per cent higher on the 
same ration. It would seem then that the 
cheapest and best way of preserving the corn 
crop for feeding purjioses, at least in case of 
milch cows, is to fill it directly into the silo ; 
the greater portion of the corn may be cut and 
siloed when the corn is in the roasting stage, 
and the corn plat which is to furnish ear corn 
may be left in the field until the corn is fully 
matured, when it may be husked, and the 
stalks and leaves may be filled into the silo on 
top of the corn siloed "ears and all." This 
will then need some heavy weighting or one or 
two applications of water on toiD of the corn, 
to insure a good quality of silage from the rather 
dry stalks. (See page 109.) 

An experiment similar to the preceding one, 
conducted at the Vermont Experiment Station, 
gave results going in the same direction. The 
product from six acres of land was fed to milch 
cows; the results showed that corn siloed 
"ears and all" iDroducedS.S -per cent better 
results than siloed stalks and ground ear corn 
from the same ; when the yield of milk and 
fat per acre of corn was considered in either 
case, the whole corn silage from an acre of land, 
fed with 4,313 pounds of clover rowen and 
2,157 pounds grain, produced 8,113 pounds of 
milk and 333 pounds fat ; while in case of the 



FILLING THE SILO. 105 

stover silage fed with ground ears and the same 
quantity of other feed, 6,399 pounds of milk 
and 264 pounds of fat were produced ; that is, it 
would have taken the product from 1.26 acres 
to give an equal amount of milk and milk prod- 
ucts in the latter case as was produced by the 
silage from whole corn plant. This shows that 
husking, shelling, and grinding the corn, 
processes that may cost more than a quarter of 
the market value of the meal, are labor and ex- 
pense more than w^asted, since the cows did 
better on the corn siloed "ears and all" than 
on that siloed after the ears were picked off 
and fed ground with it. 

The Filling Process. — If the corn is to be 
cut before being filled into the silo, it is un- 
loaded on the table of the fodder-cutter and 
run through the cutter, after which the carrier 
elevates it to the silo window and delivers it 
into the silo. The length of cutting practiced 
differs somewhat with different farmers, and 
according to variety of corn to be siloed. 
The general practice is to cut the corn in one- 
half to one-inch lengths ; a few cut in two-inch 
lengths. The corn will pack better in the silo 
the finer it is cut, and cattle will eat the larger 
varieties cleaner if cut into inch lengths or less. 
On the other hand, it is possible that fine cut- 
ting implies larger losses through fermenta- 
tions in the silo ; fine cut silage may, further- 
more, not keep as long as silage cut longer after 



106 MAKING AND FEEDING SILAGE. 

having been taken out of tlie silo. There is, 
however, not sufficient experimental evidence 
at hand to establish either of these points ; the 
majority of farmers filling silos, at any rate, 
practice cutting corn fine for the silo. 

The carrier should deliver the corn as nearly 
in the middle of the silo as possible; by means 
of a chute attached to the carrier, the cut corn 
may be delivered to any i^art of the silo desired, 
and the labor of distributing and leveling the 
corn thus facilitated. If the corn is siloed 
"ears and all," it is necessary to keep a man 
or a boy in the silo while it is being filled, to 
level the surface and tramp down the sides and 
corners; if left to itself, the heavier pieces of 
ears will be thrown farthest away and the light 
leaves and tops will all come nearest the dis- 
charge; as a result, the corn will not settle 
evenly, and the feeding value of different 
layers of silage will differ greatl3\ To assist 
in the distribution of the corn it is recom- 
mended to hang a pyramidal box in front and 
below the top of the carrier; this may be 
made about three feet square at the base and 
tapering to a point, at which a rope is attached 
for hanging to rafters. The descending mass 
of cut corn will strike the top of the box and 
be divided so as to distribute to all parts of the 
silo. Another simple device is to place a board 
vertically, or nearly so, in front of the top of the 
carrier, against which the cut corn will strike. 



FILLING THE SILO. 107 

Fast or Slow FiLLmo.— The original prac- 
tice in filling silos was to fill as rapidly as 
the conditions present would possibly admit; 
other outdoor farm work was therefore dropped 
at the time of silo filling, and all energies con- 
centrated on completing this job. It was, how- 
ever, found later on, perhaps by accident, that 
no harm will result if the filling be interrupted 
for some time, and -the practice of slow filling 
gradually developed. The theory of the prac- 
tice was worked out by Prof. M. Miles of 
Michigan, and he was one of the early cham- 
pions of the slow-filling process in this coun- 
try. The advantage claimed for the slow 
filling was, besides aj^preciably facilitating the 
work of filling the silo, the superior quality of 
the silage produced, viz. , so-called sweet silage. 
We shall be able to discuss this subject more 
fully when we have considered the chemical 
composition of silage, and the changes occur- 
ring in the silo. (See x)age 120.) It wall only be 
necessary here to state, concerning the slow or 
rapid filling of silos, that the silage produced by 
either method will be good, provided the corn is 
not too immature. It is, therefore, mainly a 
matter of convenience, which method proves 
13referable. Generally speaking, rapid filling 
has the advantage in point of economy, both of 
labor and of food materials. The fermentations 
are left to proceed farther in case of slow filling 
than when filled rapidly, being greatly aided 



108 MAKING AND FEEDING SILAGE. 

by the oxygen of the air, which tlien has better 
access to the separate layers; this is plainly 
shown by the higher temperature reached in 
slowly filled silos. The rise in the temperature 
is due to the activity of bacteria, and a high 
temperature, therefore, means greater losses of 
food constituents. 

As there may be some farmers who still hold 
slow filling to be preferable, we give the direc- 
tions for filling the silo in this way : When 
enough corn has been added to fill about three 
feet of the silo, the filling is discontinued and 
the mass allowed to heat up to 120° to 140° 
Fahrenheit. This may take a day or two; the 
filling is then continued, and another layer of 
about three feet filled in, which is left to heat 
as before. This method of intermittent filling 
is continued until tlie silo is full. 

Covering the Siloed Fodder. — A great 
many devices for covering the siloed fodder 
have been recommended and tried, with varying 
success. The original method was to put 
boards on top of the fodder and to weight them 
heavil}^ by means of a foot layer of earth or 
sand, or with stone. The weighting having 
later on been done away with, lighter material, 
as straw, marsh hay, sawdust, etc., was sub- 
stituted for the stone or sand. Building paper 
was often placed over the fodder, and boards 
on top of the paper. There is no special 
advantage derived from the use of building 



FILLING THE SILO. 109 

paper, and it is now rarely used. Many farm- 
ers run some corn stalks or green husked 
fodder through the cutter after the fodder is 
all in. 

None of these materials or any other rec- 
ommended for the parx)ose can pei'fectly pre- 
serve the uppermost layer of silage, as far as 
my experience goes, some six to eight inches 
of the toj) layer being usually spoilt. Occasion- 
ally this spoilt silage may not be so bad but 
that cattle or hogs will eat it up nearly clean, 
but it is at best very poor food and should not 
be used by any farmer who cares for the quality 
of his products. The wet or green materials 
are better for cover than dry substances, since 
they prevent evaporation of water from the tox:> 
layer; when this is dry, air will be admitted to 
the fodder below, thus making it i^ossible for 
putrefactive bacteria and molds to continue 
the destructive work begun by the fermentation 
bacteria. 

During the past couple of years the practice 
of applying water to the surface of the fodder 
in the silo has been followed in a hivge number 
of cases. The surface is tramped tlioroughly 
and a considerable amount of water added. In 
applying the method at the Wisconsin Experi- 
ment Station, Professor King, a few days after 
the completion of the filling of the silo, added 
water to the fodder corn at the rate of about 
ten pounds per square foot of surface, repeat- 



110 MAKING AliD FEEDING SILAGE. 

ing the same x)rocess about ten days afterward. 
By this method a sticky, almost imj)ervious 
layer of rotten silage, a couple of inches thick, 
will form on the lop, which will prevent evap- 
oration of water from the corn below, and will 
preserve all but a few inches of the top. The 
method seems to have worked very satisfacto- 
rily, and can be recommended in cases where the 
corn or clover goes into the silo in a rather dry 
condition, on account of drought or extreme 
hot weather, so as not to pack sufficiently by 
its own weight. While weighting of the siloed 
fodder has long since been done away with, it 
may still prove advantageous to resort to it 
where very dry fodder is siloed, or in case of 
shallow silos. Under ordinary conditions 
neither w^eighting nor apx^lications of water 
should be necessary. 

None of the different methods given in the 
preceding will preserve all of the silage intact, 
and the author knows of only one way in 
w4iich this can be accomplished, viz.: by begin- 
ning to feed the silage within a few days 
after the silo has been filled. This method is 
now ijracticed by many farmers, especially 
dairymen, who in this manner supplement 
scant fall pastures. 

By beginning to feed at once from the silo, 
the siloing system is brought to perfection, 
provided the silo structure is air-tight and con- 
structed so as to admit of no unnecessary losses 



FILLING THE SILO. Ill 

of nutrients. Under these conditions there is 
a very considerable saving of food materials 
over silage made in poorly-constructed silos, or 
over field-cured shocked fodder corn, as we 
shall presently see. 

Before leaving the subject of tilling and 
covering the silo it may oe of interest to give 
an extract of a recent address by the well- 
known Ohio siloist, Mr. John Gould, in regard 
to these j)oints: "I have flung aside all ma- 
chinery for cutting the standing corn, and now 
have the crop hand-cut. I get it cut for about 
80 cents an acre and the board of one man. A 
corn harvester costs $130, and will not last 
more than eight years, and $18 interest on money 
and wear of the machine yearly will cut my corn 
by hand twice over each year. A man cutting 
by hand can take three rows at a time, and a 
good man can cut three acres a day if he works 
alone. Never allow corn when cut to drop into 
the furrows. Let it be put crosswise of the rows, 
so that the man who comes along to take it up 
can do so without using his finger nails for a 
rake. In picking up the corn w^e do not use a 
low wagon, but an ordinary high one, and one 
man loads and unloads his own wagon. We 
have four men in the field— the cutter, a loader, 
and two ' pick-me-ups.' A great deal depends 
upon careful loading. Get the driver to load 
his wagon seven bundles high, and keep it 
there until the w^agon is loaded. Formerly in 



112 MAKING AND FEEDING SILAGE. 

operating tlie cutting machine we had two men 
to feed it and one man to boss the job. Now 
we have one man to feed tlie machine and no 
one to boss him. He must simply keep feeding 
the machine or get buried. 

"We used to put two men in the silo when 
filling; now we find that one man can attend 
to that part of the work, look after the engine, 
and do odd jobs. A load of corn weighs more 
than a man, and that is why we do not do any 
tramjjing now. In filling a silo you should 
always aim to keep the highest portion near 
the walls. We place a sort of table or small 
platform over the center of the silo, run the 
ensilage on to it, making a pyramid; then the 
corn must fall toward the walls, and not to 
the center. Now and then it may take five 
minutes' work with the fork to make things 
even and level up. Do not cover your silo. 
Ten pails of water evenly distributed over 
the toi3, when the corn is all in and the top 
well tramped, is best of all. Then come away 
and put your trast in Providence. The mois- 
ture on top of the silo will quickly develoj) 
a fine mold, which is better than anything else 
by way of preserving that which is beneath. 
You will lose only about ten bushels of ensi- 
lage by the moulding, and that costs less 
than would a day's work making an artificial 



coverino*.' ' 



(6 



SILAGE. 113 



Dry" Silage. 



The objection has been raised that we handle 
an unnecessarily large quantity of water in 
siloing green fodder corn, nearly three-fourths 
of the crop being made up of water, and it has 
been argued that some of this amount might 
advantageously be removed before placing it in 
the silo, by partially wilting or curing the fod- 
der. The efforts to silo such wilted fodder 
have, however, often been unsuccessful, because 
of insufficient pressure in the silo ; the wilted 
fodder will not pack sufficiently by its own 
weight to exclude the air, and as a result white, 
moldy spots are apt to appear in the silage, 
destroying large amounts of the contents. 
This may possibly be avoided in deep silos by 
weighting the fodder or by apj)lying a liberal 
quantity of water to the well-trami^ed surface 
of the fodder corn. An experiment in silo- 
ing wilted fodder, made at Wisconsin Exi)eri- 
ment Station in 1887, showed great losses of 
materials, more than half of the fodder being 
destroyed during the siloing process. The 
silage was dry and very light, with an odor 
similar to that of drying tobacco leaves. 
Chemical analyses made by the author showed 
the composition of the silage and the corre- 
sponding partly cured fodder corn (yellow 
dent) to be as follows : 

8 



114 



MAKING AND FEEDING SILAGE. 



Percentage Composition of ' ' Dkt " Silage and 
spoNDiNG Partly Cured Fodder Corn. 


CORRE- 




Water. 


< 




6S 


starch. 

Sugar, 

etc. 


§1 






Drv Silaere 


30.76 
34.77 


4.38 
3 52 


6.18 

4.87 


21.48 
23.37 


35.84 
32.51 


1.36 
.96 


.14 




Partly Cured Fodder 
Corn 





Scattered reports of success in siloing wilted 
corn fodder are at hand. Professor Sanborn, 
late director of Utah Experiment Station, re- 
ports very favorable results from silage pre- 
pared from such fodder. He says : "In seven- 
teen years' experimental work in animal nutri- 
tion, during every year of which there has been 
some feeding trial or trials with fodder corn or 
corn fodder, and during the time several trials 
with methods of preserving the corn plant, I 
have never found a method of preserving this 
plant that has given so much satisfaction. Not 
the slightest change of the plant in Silo 3 was 
visible to the eye excex)t that it was softer or 
more pliable. It was eaten better than I have 
ever known corn fodder to be eaten ; fully as 
well as hay is usually eaten. I believe that no 
appreciable loss occurred under this system of 
storage, and I am sure that it is far less than 
by the regular silo system of green storage." 

Mr. John Gould says in regard to dry silage : 
' ' While those who have tried this dry fodder 
silage are satisfied with it, none claim it as 
superior to putting up the green fodder. It is 



SILAGE. 115 

far more difficult to cut. The silo cannot 
restore to tlie dry fodder what it has lost, nor 
its original digestibility, but it does make it 
more palatable and easier fed, creating a large 
saving by having the coarser parts consumed. 
Instead of cutting fodder each day for the 
stock, the fodder is cut at one job and time 
economized. The chief point is, that it is pos- 
sible by this process to save a big surplus corn 
crop, which otherwise would rapidly deterio- 
rate." 

Clover Silage. 

Green clover may be siloed whole or cut ; 
when the former method is followed, it should 
be put into the silo in a systematic manner, in 
a similar way as explained in case of whole 
silage (101). The silo may be filled by means of 
a hay fork, or by hand ; the hay fork makes 
harder work of the feeding out of the silage, 
so that generally it is preferable to fill by hand. 
Since whole clover does not pack very solidly, 
most farmers either fill the lower half of the 
silo with whole clover, putting clover cut in 
two-inch lengths in the upper half, or cut all 
the clover put into the silo. The arguments for 
and against whole clover silage are the same 
as in case of whole corn, although whole clover 
silage is more easily handled than whole corn 
silage. The clover should not be left to wilt 
between cutting and siloing, and the silo should 



116 MAKING AND FEEDING SILAGE. 

be filled rapidly, so as to cause no unneces- 
sary losses by fermentations. 

The different species of clover will prove sat- 
isfactory silo crops ; ordinary red or medium 
clover is most used in Northwestern States, 
along with mammoth clover ; the latter ma- 
tures later than medium or red clover, and may 
therefore be siloed later than these. Alfalfa 
or lucern is often siloed in the West ; on 
account of its coarser stems it had better be cut 
for the silo. Under the conditions present in 
the Western States it will generally i^roduce 
much larger yields than corn, and, preserved 
in a silo, will furnish a rich supply of most 
valuable feed. Prof. Neale recommends the 
use of scarlet clover for summer silage, for 
Delaware and states under similar climatic con- 
ditions. 

By filling clover into the silo at midsummer, 
or before, space is utilized that would otherwise 
be emjjty ; the silage will furthermore be avail- 
able for feeding in the latter part of the sum- 
mer and during the fall, when the pastures are 
apt to run short. This makes it possible to 
keep a larger number of stock on the farm 
than can be the case if pastures alone are to be 
relied upon, and thus facilitates greatly inten- 
sive farming. 

In several instances where there has still 
been a supply of clover silage in the silo, green 
corn has been filled in on toj) of the clover, and 



SILAGE. 117 

the latter has been sealed and thus joreserved 
for a number of years. A sample of two-year- 
old clover silage which the author saw during 
the past season was perfectly preserved in the 
manner given, and, aside from being somewhat 
drier than ordinary clover silage (possibly due 
to exposure during transportation), it looked 
like first-class silage, of a uniform brown color, 
and of a sweet, aromatic odor. I may mention 
in this connection that corn silage will also 
keep for a number of years when left undis- 
turbed in the silo. An extensive dairy farmer 
of Mahw^ah, N. J., who has twenty-four silos 
on his farm, ranging in capacity from fifty to 
seventy -five tons each, who feeds about 2,000 
tons of corn silage each year, informs me 
that he alwaj's keeps silage for two years 
before feeding, and that the best silage he ever 
had was seven years old. While it is difficult 
to see the advantage of the system, it shows 
that corn silage, once settled and left '^sealed 
up," will keep for a series of years without 
suffering noticeable deterioration. 

Freezing of Silage. 

Freezing of silage has sometimes been a 
source of annoyance and even loss to farmers 
in Northern States; the difficulty may be 
avoided by checking the ventilation in the silo 
and by leaving the door to the silo carefully 
closed in very cold weather. If the top layer 



118 MAKING AND FEEDING SILAGE. 

of silage freezes, some of the warm silage may 
be mixed with the frozen silage an hour or so 
before feeding time, and all the silage will then 
be found in good condition when fed out. 
Professor Cook recommends keeping a layer of 
straw as a cover over the silage ; this Avill pre- 
vent it from freezing, and may easily be cleared 
off when silage is to be taken out. 

Cost of Silage. 

Corn silage will generally cost $1 to $1.50 per 
ton, including cost of seed, preparation of land, 
interest on same, cultivation of corn, cutting, 
filling into the silo and ready for use. The 
cost will vary according to local conditions, 
yield, price of land and labor, facilities for 
work, etc. Professor King found that the 
average cost of cutting and putting corn into 
the silo on a number of Wisconsin farms was 
58.$ cents per ton, when it was put in cut; 
adding to this amount the interest and taxes 
on the silo investment per ton and 2 per cent 
for insurance and maintenance, he finds that 
the cost of harvesting and feeding a ton of 
silage amounts to 73.2 cents. Various Ameri- 
can experiment station men have given the 
cost per ton of the silage as put into the silo. 
Professor Henry, in a trial at the Wisconsin 
Experiment Station, put thirty-one tons into 
the silo at a net cost of 89 cents a ton. The 
late Professor Porter found the cost of one ton 



SILAGE. 119 

of silage to be 88 cents, according to Minnesota 
prices. Professor Wliitclier gives $1.62 as the 
cost per ton in New Hampshire; this sum in- 
cludes 55 cents paid for fertilizers and manure, 
an item considerably smaller for Western 
farmers. Professor Plumb of the Indiana 
(Purdue) Experiment Station states that "esti- 
mating on the cost of plowing, harrowing, 
planting, seed, manure, interest and taxes, 
cultivating, cutting and hauling from field, and 
placing in silo," a ton of silage will cost about 
$1. 50. Dr. Goessmann obtained the same figure 
in siloing fodder corn at the Massachusetts Ex- 
periment Station. 

Clover silage will usually cost less than corn 
silage on account of the smaller expense of 
growing the crop. The cost may be estimated 
at about $1 a ton. (See page 31.) 

The yields of silage crops are of direct im- 
portance in determining the cost of the silage. 
Corn of Northern flint or dent varieties will 
seldom yield over eighteen tons to the measured 
acre, and yields over twelve tons may be con- 
sidered satisfactory; fifteen tons will be counted 
a good crop by most farmers. The large 
Southern varieties, on the other hand, will 
yield toward twenty or more tons of green fod- 
der per acre, ordinarily containing, as we have 
seen, somewhat larger quantities of dry mat- 
ter than yielded by Northern smaller varieties 
under similar conditions. Green clover will 



120 



MAKING AND FEEDING SILAGE. 



yield toward fifteen tons per acre, twelve tons 
being a good yield. 

Chemical Composition of Silage. 

The chemical composition of silage will of 
course depend on the character of the siloed 
fodder and on the intensity of the fermenta- 
tions occurring in the silo. The main com- 
ponents affected by the siloing process are 
starch and sugar (non-nitrogenous matter) and 
the nitrogenous bodies ; carbonic acid, water, 
and organic acids are formed from the former, 
and from the latter, decomposition products of 
simpler constitution than the flesh-forming 
substances proper, the so-called amides. The 

Chemical Composition of Green and of Siloed Fodder 
Corn, in Per Cent. 





Yellow Dent Corn. 


Southern Ensilage Corn 
(B.&W.) 




a 


'6 


Composi- 
tion of 
Dry 

Matter. 






Composi- 
tion of 
Dry 
Matter. 




Green 


Si- 
loed. 


Green 


Si- 
loed. 


Wafpr 


71 00 
2.22 
2.49 
7 82 

15.98 
.49 


70.62 
2.59 
2.70 
9.68 

13.69 
.72 






82 30 82 fi7 






Mineral Matter 

Crude Protein 


7.65 

8.59 

26 96 

55.12 

1.68 


8 82 

9.17 

32 94 

46.63 

2 44 


1.59 
1.81 
6.80 
7.22 

.28 


1.83 
1.73 
6.89 
6.23 
.65 


9 00 
10 22 
38.43 
40.75 

1.60 


10.58 
9.95 


Crude Fiber 


39.73 


Starch, Sugar, etc 

Ether Extract 


33.00 
3 74 






L.actic Acid . . 


100 00 


100.00 

.40 
.08 


100 00 

i"3T 
.31 

22.4 


100.00 

"lA'i 

.55 
37.4 


100.00 


100.00 

.85 
.31 


100.00 


100.00 










Total Nitrogen 




1.64 
.55 

33.8 


1.59 


Amide Nitrogen 






.68 


Per Cent in Amide 
Form 




42.5 



SILAGE. 121 

percentage composition of silage will, as a re- 
sult, differ somewhat from that of the siloed 
fodder. The foregoing sets of analyses made 
by the author will illustrate the changes in the 
chemical composition of fodder corn before and 
after the siloing period. 

Relation of Moisture and Acidity in 
Silage. — Silage Avill contain varying quanti- 
ties of free organic acids formed during the 
siloing period, mainly lactic, acetic, and butyric 
acids. The amounts of acid in the silage Avill 
depend largely upon the water content of the 
siloed fodder, or, more correctly speaking, upon 
the intensity of the fermentations occurring in 
the silo, one important factor of which is the 
percentage of water in the fodder. I have pre- 
pared the following table showing the relation 
of the Avater in the siloed fodder, the tempera- 
ture in the silo, and the acidity of the silage. 
The analyses and observations were taken by 
the author in silo experiments conducted at 
Wisconsin Experiment Station during 1887. 
Six one-inch gas pipes were placed in each of 
the six experimental silos; one set of three 
pipes, which went down to Avithin three, six, 
and nine feet from the bottom of the silo, Avas 
placed in the middle of the silo, and a similar 
set within two feet from one of tl;e outside 
Avails ; observations of thermometers kept at 
the bottom of the closed pipes were taken three 
times a day during the first couple of weeks 



122 



MAKING AND FEEDING SILAGE. 



and later on twice or once a day. Only the 
maximum temperatures observed in the three 
silos are here given. 

Relation of Water Content of Fodder, Acidity of 
Silage, and Temperature in Silo. 







a 


a 


C3 








S 


d 


Variety op Fodder Corn. 




<6 


^« 


a 




O^ 


-^ 


S^ 


^d 




«-.2 




gS 






Pi 


>-^ 


< 


S 






Per ct. 


Per ct. 


o p 


Stowell's Evergreen sweet corn 


77.22 


1.10 


.21 


125.6 


Pride of the North, yellow 










dent corn 


71.00 
84.77 


.40 
.14 


.08 


120.0 


Same, partially cured 


153.0 


B. & W. ensilage corn 


82.30 


.85 


.31 


129.5 


Same siloed whole 


82.72 
66.40 


.86 

.82 


.40 
.16 




Stowell's Evergreen sweet corn 


126.5 


B. & W. ensilage and yellow 










flint corn, mixed 


65.65 
61.39 


.80 
.65 


.08 
.03 


122.0 


Clover sila^'e 









We notice that, as a general rule, the more 
water in the fodder the higher the acidity of 
the silage, and the lower the temperature. In 
case of the dry silage only a very slight acidity 
was found, and the temj3erature in the silo 
went up to 153*^ F. A high temperature, as we 
have seen, means a great loss of nutritive mate- 
rials, and large losses have usually also been 
observed Avhere the conditions favoring high 
temx)eratures have been present. The follow- 
ing analyses, made at Michigan Agricultural 
College, plainly show the relation of water 
content of siloed fodder, and acidity of silage. 



SILAGE. 



123 



Different lots of corn were siloed from tlie 
time of tasseling till the ears were glazed. 

Relation of Water Content to Acidity. 



Date of CaTTiNG. 


o 

< 


«3 
< 


< 


< 


CO 


O, 


Sept. 14. 


Water content of corn , 
per cent 


90.00 
1.26 


87.30 
.84 


84.40 
.76 


82.00 

.72 


78.60 

.72 


75.73 

.72 


70 10 


Acidity (calc. as acetic 
acid), percent 


.70 



The iniiuence of the x^ercentage of water in 
the siloed fodder and of methods of filling the 
silo is well illustrated in the following experi- 
ments, conducted by the Bath and West of Eng- 
land Society in 1886. The description of the 
experiments is taken from E,. Henry Rew's 
treatise on Stack Ensilage (London, 1888). "The 
object was to obtain the comparative results, 
as ascertained by chemical analysis, from grass 
made into (1) hay, (2) sweet silage, (3) sour 
silage. Six small silos, each having a ca^mcity 
of about 250 cubic feet, were carefully filled. 
The grass was all taken from the same 
meadow, and the conditions of making both 
silage and grass equalized with great pains. 
The following were the six different descrip- 
tions made: 

' ' No. 1 . Sour Ensilage — rammed and com- 
pressed as rapidly as possible. The tempera- 
ture to be kept down to 50^ F., or as near 



124 



MAKING AND FEEDING SILAGE. 



thereto as possible. The silo to be filled and 
covered in one day. It is anticipated that the 
only acid present in this ensilage will be lactic, 
and perhaps a little butyric acid. 

' ' IN'o. 2. Sour Ensilage — temperature to be 
kept below 120^ F. This to be trodden and 
compressed as much as would be practicable in 
a general way. The filling of this silo may 
extend over a week. The acid in this ensilage, 
it is expected, will be both lactic and acetic. 

Per Cent Water, Acidity and Puotein Compounds in 
Samples of Grass Silage. 





























, 
















<o 


o 


<o 


Oi 


o 


'p 








bfi 


tm 


ta 




be 


M 








c8 


03 


03 


>> 


S3 














r^ 


u 


\J, 


Z^ 








CC 


m 


m 


fl 


C/3 


m 




w 




^ 


"H 


CO 


Tj« 


in 


o 




03 


eS 


o 


o 


o 


O 


o 


o 




o 


w 


^ 


^ 


^ 


"A 


^ 


^ 


"VVater 


70.50 


15.60 


79.40 
.26 


79.17 
.17 


77.12 
.14 


49.75 
.14 


76.90 
.26 


77.91 


Lactic acid. . . . 


.46 


Acetic acid . . 






.32 

.34 


.13 
.32 


.06 
.37 


.04 
.86 


.10 
.37 


.31 


Total nitrogen. 


.42 


1.45 


.35 


Amide n i t r o- 


















2fen 


.08 


.42 


.14 


.12 


.10 


.22 


.15 


.15 


Per cent loss in 




gross weiglit. 




73.97 


9.10 


9.2818.40 


60.61 


4.50 


9.89 













" No. 3. Sweet Ensilage — made by carting 
the grass as cut direct to the silo, treading it 
well in at the sides, but not in the center. 
Temperature regulated from 140° to 150° F. 
This should produce a fruity type of sweet 
ensilage. 

"No. 4. Sweet Ensilage — t\\egY2i^^2i\\owQ^ 



SILAGE. 125 

to lie in the field one day after cutting, and 
then made in the same way as No. 3. In- 
tended to produce an aromatic type of sweet 
ensilage. 

"No. 5. Sour Ensilage — the grass to be 
chaffed and the silo filled at once and covered, 
as in No. 1. 

"No. 6. Sweet Ensilage — the same as No. 3 
silage, with the exception that the grass is to 
be chaffed." 

We notice that the analyses by Doctor 
Yoelcker, given in the preceding table, do not 
corroborate the predictions made concerning 
the acidity of the different kinds of silage. On 
the other hand, the largest amount of acetic 
acid was obtained in No. 1 silage, which was 
not expected to have any volatile acid, while 
No. 6 silage, made at a temperature from 140^ 
to 150^ F., contains the same amount of acetic 
acid as No. 1 and two-tenths of one per cent 
more lactic acid. The average losses of dry 
matter in the different kinds of silage were 
about 14 per cent. 

Sweet and Sour Silage. — The analyses of 
silage given in the preceding do not show the 
differences between sour and sweet silage as we 
understand the terms. The former is rich in 
water and in volatile organic acids, while the 
latter is as a rule comparatively dry, only 
slightly acid, and contains especially but a very 
small quantity of acetic (volatile) acid. There 



126 MAKING AND FEEDING SILAGE. 

has been a good deal of discussion on tlie sub- 
ject of sweet and sour silage, and various 
theories have been advanced in explanation of 
the fermentations taking place in the silo at 
different temperatures. 

Mr. George Fry was one of the earliest advo- 
cates of sweet silage; his book, "The Theory 
and Practice of Sweet Ensilage," published in 
1885, has been translated into German, and has 
had a good deal ot: influence in England and on 
the European continent. His practice was in 
general much better than his theories explain- 
ing the same. 

It may be stated in passing that the term 
sweet silage, correctly speaking, is a misnomer, 
as any kind of silage will contain a quantity of 
acid. Acetic acid seems to be present in the sour 
silage in larger c[uantity than in sweet silage, and 
being volatile, will at once be noticed. The pop- 
ular idea that there is no acid in sweet silage 
may come from the fact that it does not give off 
a strong acid odor like sour silage. The English 
have made careful observations concerning the 
question of temperature in silage making. In 
the silo stacks whicli are very common in 
England, the temj^erature of the mass may be 
closely followed without any difficulty, and 
may be largely governed by api)lications of 
greater or smaller pressure. Doctor Fream, in 
his "Elements of Agriculture," gives the fol- 
lowing discussion of the ai^pearance of silage 



SILAGE. 127 

in different layers, and of tlie relation of tem- 
perature to acidity in tlie silo : 

"If an open-air silage stack is viewed in 
section from top to bottom, the lower layers 
will be seen to be greener than the upper, 
whilst the color gradually becomes browner 
toward the top, which Avill be almost of a 
burnt-coffee color. The bottom layers have 
been converted into green or sour silage, 
because the pressure of the material above has 
excluded the air, and fermentation has taken 
place at a low temperature, there not having 
been sufficient air to supply the oxygen for a 
high-temperature fermentation. As less weight 
was applied to the upper portion, there was 
freer access of air to it, and more air was 
retained among the mass, hence a higher fer- 
mentation. The color thus affords an indica- 
tion of the temperature at which the fermenta- 
tion took place. It is generally recognized 
that silage made at a temperature below 120° 
Fahrenheit is sour silage, whilst that which 
has not risen above 90° Fahrenheit is com- 
monly spoken of as 'low-temperature sour,' and 
that which has exceeded 90° Fahrenheit as 
'high-temperature sour.' Becween 120° and 
130° there are generally veins or seams of sweet 
and sour silage intermingled. From 130° to 
140° a shade of brown is discernable. Between 
140° and 100° it is decidedly brown, and above 
160° it is over-heated and very similar in 



128 MAKIKG AND FEEDING SILAGE. 

appearance to over-heated hay, whilst the 
flavor denotes burning. In any case fermen- 
tation ceases as soon as all available oxygen 
is used up, the air that exists amongst the 
herbage being then rich in carbonic acid 
gas." 

In our modern system of siloing fodders in 
separate silo structures we rarely have low- 
fermentation silage, since the somewhat dry 
condition of the siloed fodder necessarily 
admits of considerable air in the silo, which 
gives the bacterial life a chance to flourish for a 
short time. On the other hand, our deep silos 
increase the pressure of the mass so as to hold 
the fermentations in check to a certain extent. 
The temperature in most of our silos will not 
be likely to exceed 130° Fahrenheit, at least 
not in the lower layers. While silage pro- 
duced at this temperature would not be termed 
sweet silage according to the preceding deflni- 
tions, the comparative absence of free volatile 
acids in it, its pleasant aromatic odor and not 
marked sour taste, properly bring it within the 
term as used by American writers. In the 
system of slow filling of silos, the various 
layers of silage have ample time to heat up and 
temperatures above 150° are reached. Silage 
produced at this temperature contains less 
acid than that produced below 150°, but the 
losses of food materials are at the same time 
larger. 



SlLAGi:. 



129 



Digestibility of Silage. 

A considerable number of digestion experi- 
ments with various kinds of silage have been 
made. The author, in 1888-89, conducted a 
digestion exx)erinient with corn silage and 
with corresponding field-cured fodder corn, 
feeding two cows exclusively on these feeds in 
two successive x^eriods. The average digestion 
coefficients obtained for both cows were as 
follows : 

Digestion Coefficients of Corn Silage and Fodder 

Corn. 



Corn silage. 
Cured fod- 
der corn . 



Dry 
Matter 



63 

60 



Ash. 



20 
19 



Crude 
Protein. 



54 
49 



Crude 
Fiber. 



47 
56 



Nitrogen 
Free Ex- 
tract. 



72 
65 



Ether 
Extract 



82 
69 



Albumi- 
noids. 



24 

80 



This statement shows a somewhat lower 
digestibility of the dry matter, protein, nitro- 
gen-free extract, and ether extract of the field- 
cured fodder corn, and a higher digestibility of 
the crude fiber and the true albuminoids. As 
these data were obtained with only two cows, 
in one trial with each cow, too much import- 
ance should not be attached to the detailed 
results. We may only call attention to the 
fact that the digestibility of the corn silage 
proved fully equal to that of the dry fodder 
corn of the same origin. 

9 



130 



MAKING AND FEEDING SILAGE. 



Since this experiment was conducted, a num- 
ber of digestion experiments have been made 
with different kinds of silage and fodder corn. 
The average digestion coefficients obtained have 
been computed by Jordan, and include the work 
done with twenty-four samples of fodder corn 
and seventeen samples of corn silage, fifty and 
thirty-seven single trials, for fodder corn and 
corn silage respectively, having been made. 
The average digestion coefficients for green 
fodder are also given, and include thirty trials, 
with fifteen different samples. 

Average Digestion Coefficients for Corn Silage and 
FOR Green and Cured Fodder Corn. 





Dry 

Matter. 


Ash. 


Crude 
Protein 


Crude 
Fiber. 


N.Free 
Extract 


Ether 
Extract 


Green fodder corn . . 
Cured fodder corn. . 
Corn silage 


68 
66 
66 


35 
31-. 
31 


61 
55 
53 


61 
66 
67 


74 
69 
70 


74 

72 
81 

















While the dry matter of green fodder is 
slightly more digestible than that of cured fod- 
der corn or corn silage, there is no difference 
between the digestibility of the dry matter of 
the two latter. The coefficients for protein, 
crude fiber, and nitrogen-free extract are 
practically the same for corn silage and for 
cured fodder corn, since the differences in any 
case are below 2 per cent. The higher coeffi- 
cients found for the ether extract in the silage 
are due to the lactic acid formed during the 
siloing period, which is wholly digestible. 



SILAGE. 131 

It may, therefore, be said in general that so 
far as our present knowledge goes, there is no 
apxn^eciable difference in the digestibility of 
corn silage and dry fodder corn, and that both 
of these foods are somewhat less digestible than 
the green fodder corn. 

Losses of Food Materials in tlie Silo. 

In the early stages of the silo movement in 
this country and abroad, a great deal was said 
about the losses of food materials in the silo, 
and scientific men were rather inclined to take 
a stand against the silo on account of the results 
of the investigations made on this point. 
Neither is this to be wondered at when we 
remember that chemical analyses had repeatedly 
shown that one-third to one-half of the total 
dry matter put into the silo had disappeared 
during the siloing period through the fermenta- 
tion processes taking j^lace in the silo. Later 
investigations with deep silos, where modern 
siloing methods were followed, have shown, 
however, that these results were due to the im- 
perfect silo methods followed, and not inherent 
in this process of preserving green forage. It 
was furthermore not known at that time that 
similar, or, in fact, still greater losses take x)lace 
in ordinary field-curing and handling of dry 
fodder corn. 

Losses in FiELD-CuRiNa Fodder Corn. — 
The experiments conducted at the Wisconsin 



132 MAKING AKi) FEEl)IKG SltAGil 

Experiment Station in 1887 by Professor Henry 
and myself were, as far as I know, the first 
attempts to ascertain the amount of the loss of 
nutritive elements of fodder corn, on being 
field-cured in large shocks and stored during 
the greater portion of the winter. Corn fod- 
der w^as left shocked in the field for a month, 
and then stored in a barn until fed out. By 
analyses of the fodder as it was shocked, and 
when fed out, it was found that a yellow 
dent corn had lost in the interval 18.55 jDer 
cent of the dry matter originally contained 
in it, while a large sweet corn, that had to be 
reshocked in the field on account of its begin- 
ning to heat, lost 36.61 per cent of dry matter. 
Nearly nine tons of green fodder was cut and 
shocked in each case. 

These losses w^ere surprisingly large, and the 
work was carefully repeated the following 
year in a similar way as before. The quanti- 
ties of fodder corn shocked, and the losses of 
dry matter and protein obtained are shown 
below. At the same time that these shocks 
were put up, strictly comparative lots of the 
same varieties were cut for the silo, and the 
quantities of dry matter and protein put into 
and taken out of the silo determined as in case 
of the shocked fodder. The results obtained 
with both lots of fodder are shown in the fol- 
lowing table. 



SILAGE. 



133 



Losses in Field-Curing and in Siloing Indian Corn.— 

1887-88. 





Field-Cured Fodder Corn. 


Siloed Fodder Corn. 


Variety of Corn. 




^ O 02 

6^2 


Lose. 


5^1 


to 


Loss. 






(.4 P 


02 


4J 


Yellow Flint — 

Dry Matter 

Crude Protein . . . 
Sheep's Tootu.... 

Dry Matter 

Crude Protein. . . 

Smedley Yellow 

Dent 

Dry Matter 

Crude Protein.... 
Yellow Flint — 

Dry Matter 

Crude Protein... 


11,401 
2,552.7 

159 
14,972 
4,689 6 
322.1 

15,464 
3,997.9 
292.2 
14,890 
4,197 
343.4 


3,847 
2,256 

138 
5,142 5 
3,609 

308.9 

5,076 
3,483 

277 
4,358.5 
3,357 

282 


7,554 
296.7 

21 
9 829.5 
1,020.6 

13 2 

10,388 

514.9 

15.2 

10,531.5 

840 

61.4 












11.6 
13.4 

2i.8 
4 1 

i2'9 
5.2 

20 
179 


















14,002 
3,431.5 
235.8 

15 288 
4,150.3 
303 3 
17,218 
3,844 
314.4 


12,225 

2,800.7 
182.9 

12,151 
3,373.5 
231.7 
14,540 
3,355 
258.3 


1,777 
630.8 
42 9 

3,137 
776 8 
71.6 
2,677 
489 
56.1 


12.7 
184 
224 

20.5 
16 7 
236 
15.5 
12.7 
178 


Average Losses.. 








16.5 
10.1 








15 9 


Crude Protein. . . 














21 3 











As sliown by the table, the average loss of 
dry matter in the shocked corn was but 
slightly higher than in the small experimental 
silo used (8x7, 14 feet deep ; capacity about 12 
tons), while the loss of crude protein was less 
than half as much. 

These results led to a further study of the 
losses in field-curing and siloing fodder corn 
during 1889, when the problem was investi- 
gated in a more systematic manner and under 
a greater variety of conditions than before. 
We can not here give the results in detail ; 
suffice it to say that 149 shocks of corn, of nine 
different varieties, were put up in all, and the 



134 



MAKING AND FEEDING SILAGE. 



amounts of dry matter and protein contained 
in the shocks when fresh and when cured were 
determined in all cases ; the shocks presented 
a large variety of conditions, small and large, 
husked and unhusked corn, shocks left in the 
field for different lengths of time, and shocks 
cured indoors, etc. The losses of dry matter 
found ranged from 6.9 per cent to 33.9 per 
cent. The former result was obtained in case 
of four shocks of Pride of the North, yellow 
dent corn, and the latter in case of ten shocks 
of StowelFs Evergreen sweet corn, husked and 
left in the field for 2^ months, on the average. 
Eleven shocks of large sweet fodder corn, cured 
under cover, lost, on the average, 8.2 per cent 
of dry matter. The averages of the results 
obtained during this year at the Wisconsin 
Station are given below. 

Losses in Field-Curing and in Siloing Indian Corn. 



Av. lor 9 Varieties, 

149 Shocks 

Dry Matter 

Crude Protein 



Field-Cured Fodder Corn. 



(3 <U 

fc. O 2? 



14,906 
1,172.5 



3 o g 



11.979.2 
905.7 



Loss. 



2,926.8 
266.8 



?hO 



19.6 

•22.8 



Siloed Fodder Com. 



S c S 



12,781 10,040 
1024.6 876 G 



Lops. 



2,741 
158 






21.5 
15.4 



This investigation was continued during the 
season of 1890, on a larger scale than in previ- 
ous years. Sixty-five tons of green fodder 
corn was siloed, and the same quantity was cut 



SILAGE. 



135 



and sliocked in the field. The resulting losses 
of dry matter and x)rotein found in both cases 
are shown in the following table, with a sum- 
mary of the work done in this line for four 
consecutive years. 

Losses in Field-Curing and in Siloing Indian Corn. 



AV. FOR Two VaR., 

Total Weight. 

Dry Matter 

Crude Protein.... 
Results of Four 

Years' Work 

Dry Matter 

Crude Protein . 



Field-Cured Fodder Com. Siloed Fodder Corn. 






129,014 
32,432 

2,580.5 



(. -^ . 

d o ^ 



Loss. 









:^1,738 

23,270 

1,682 



54,937 



72,164 , 

5,706.4 4,317.5 



9,162 

898.5 



17,227 
1,383.9 



28.3 
348 



J- o 

t- o 5 



129,014 
32.432 

2,580.; 



Los 



105,824 

29.090 

2,557 



23. 8 68,034 57,411 
24. 3| 5,490.8 4,569.1 



5 


si 


23,190 
3.342 
323.5 


18 

10. 3 
12.5 


10,623 
921.3 


15.6 
16 8 



The results given in the preceding table 
show that 15.6 per cent and 23.8 per cent of 
dry matter were lost in the siloing and the 
field-curing of fodder corn, respectively, while 
the protein (flesh-forming substance) lost 
amounted to 24.3 per cent in the field-curing 
process, and 16.8 per cent in the siloing pro- 

cess. 

Later researches have proved that these aver- 
ao-e figures must be considered rather low losses 
for the field-curing of fodder corn, and rather 
high losses for the silo. The results given m 
the last table concerning the losses m field- 
curing fodder corn have been corroborated by 
similar work at the New Jersey, Vermont, 



136 MAKING AND FEEDING SILAGE. 

Pennsylvania, Colorado, and other experiment 
stations, where shocks of fodder corn were 
carefully kept in the field, or under cover, for a 
period of one to several months, and the dry 
matter contents at shocking time, and when 
the shocks were taken down, were carefully 
determined by chemical analysis. As the con- 
ditions described in the investigation at the 
Colorado Experiment Station will apply to 
most places on our continent, particularly in 
the Northwest and West, w^e quote rather 
fully from the account of the experiments 
given by Professor Cooke: 

"It is believed by most farmers that, in the 
dry climate of Colorado, fodder corn, where 
cut and shocked in good shape, cures without 
loss of feeding value, and that the loss of weight 
that occurs is merely due to the drying out of 
the water. A test of this question was made 
in the fall of 1893, and the results obtained 
seemed to indicate that fully a third of tlie 
feeding value was lost in the curing. This re- 
sult was so surprising that the figures were not 
published, fearing that some error had crept in, 
though we could not see where there was the 
possibility of a mistake. 

"In the fall of 1894, the test was repeated on 
a larger scale. A lot of corn was carefully 
weighed and sampled. It was then divided into 
three portions : One was spread on the ground 
in a thin layer, the second part was set up in 



SILAGE. 



137 



large shocks, containing about five hundred 
pounds of green fodder in each, while the rest 
was shocked in small bundles. After remain- 
ing thus for some months, until thoroughly 
cured, the portions were weighed, sampled, 
and analyzed seiDarately. The table gives the 
losses that occurred in the curing. 





Large Shocks. 


Small Shocks. 


On the Ground. 




Total 
Weight. 


Dry 
Matter. 


Total 
Weight. 


Dry 

Matter. 


Total 
Weight. 


Dry 
Matter. 


When Shocked 

After Curing 

Loss in Weight 

Per Cent of Loss... 


Lbs. 

953 

258 

694 

73 


Lbs. 

317 

150 

67 

31 


Lbs. 

294 

64 

230 

78 


Lbs. 

77 
44 
33 
43 


Lbs. 

186 

33 

153 

83 


Lbs. 

43 
19 
33 
55 



' ' So far as could be told by the eye, there 
had been no loss. The fodder had cured in nice 
shape, and the stalks on the inside of the bun- 
dles retained their green color, with no sign of 
molding or heating. And yet the large shocks 
had lost 31 per cent of their dry matter, or 
feeding value ; the small shocks 43 per cent, 
and the corn spread on the ground 55 per cent. 

"On breaking or cutting the stalks, these 
losses were explained. The juice was acid, and 
there was a very strong acid odor, showing that 
an active fermentation was taking place in this 
seemingly dry fodder. We had noticed this 
strong odor the fall before and all through this 
winter. When the fodder corn for the steers 



138 MAKING AND FEEDING SILAGE. 

is put through the feed cutter, that same strong 
smell is present. 

' ' It can be said, then, that the dryness of the 
climate in Colorado does not x)revent fodder 
corn from losing a large part of its feeding 
value through fermentation. Indeed, the loss 
from this source is fully as great as in the 
damp climate of New England. 

"As comj)ared with the losses by fermenta- 
tion in the silo, the cured fodder shows consider- 
ably the higher loss." 

In the experiments by the author during the 
fall of 1889, quoted above, eleven shocks cured 
under cover in the barn lost on an average over 
8 per cent of dry matter and toward 14 per cent 
of protein. In a recent experiment at Maine 
Experiment Station, 14.13 per cent of dry mat- 
ter was lost in the process of slow drying of a 
large samj)le of fodder corn under the most 
favorable circumstances. "It is interesting to 
note that this loss falls almost entirely on the 
nitrogen-free extract, or carbohydrates, more 
than two-thirds of it being actually accounted 
for by the diminished percentage of sugars." 

Since such losses will occur in fodder cured 
under cover with all i30ssible care, it is evident 
that the average losses of dry matter in field- 
curing fodder corn, given in the i^receding, by 
no means can be considered exaggerated, but 
must, on the other hand, be too small, as a care- 
ful study of the conditions of the various 



SILAGE. 189 

experiments will readily show. Exposure to 
rain and storm, abrasion of dry leaves and fine 
stalks, and other factors tend to diminish the 
nutritive value of the fodder, aside from the 
losses from fermentations, so that very often 
only one-half of the food materials originally 
present in the fodder is left by the time it is 
fed out. The remaining portion of the fodder 
has, furthermore, a lower digestibility and a 
lower feeding value than the fodder corn when 
put U13, for the reason that the fermentations 
occurring during the curing process destroy the 
most valuable and easily digestible part, i. e., 
the sugar and starch of the nitrogen-free extract 
which are soluble, or readily rendered soluble, 
in the process of digestion. 

Necessary Losses in the Silo. — The 
losses of dry matter and protein during the 
siloing period previously given amounted to 
15.6 and 16.8 per cent respectively, as an aver- 
age of four years' trials at the Wisconsin Ex- 
periment Station. There is, however, an abun- 
dance of evidence at hand showing that these 
figures are higher than those found in actual 
practice, and that they considerably exceed the 
necessary losses sustained in the silo. During 
the last half-dozen years our methods of 
siloing green fodder have been greatly per- 
fected, mainly through improvements in the 
construction and form of silo buildings. The 
old silos were shallow, and the experimental 



140 MAKING AND FEEDING SILAGE. 

silos in the experiments reviewed in the pre- 
ceding, as well as elsewhere, were both shallow 
and very small. Under these conditions it is 
but natural that the losses found should be ex- 
cessive, since two of the essentials in siloing 
fodders were absent— sufficient x^ressure to 
largely exclude the air from the siloed mass, 
and a minimum of wall space in projDortion to 
the quantity of fodder siloed. 

There are now plenty of cases on record 
showing that the results obtained by the author 
in the experiments of 1890 amply cover the 
necessary losses of dry matter in siloing fodder 
corn and that 10 per cent represents the maxi- 
mum loss of dry matter in modern deep, well- 
built silos. The losses of dry matter obtained 
in siloing corn at the Wisconsin Experiment 
Station during the last four years have come at 
or below this figure. It is possible to reduce 
this loss still further by avoiding any sjDoilt 
silage on the surface, which we saAv may easily 
be done by beginning to feed immediately after 
the filling of the silo. Experiments conducted 
on a small scale by Professor King in 1894 
gave losses of only 2 to 3 per cent of dry 
matter, on the strength of which results, 
amongst others, he believes that the necessary 
loss of dry matter in the silo need not exceed 
5 per cent. 

Summarizing our considerations concerning 
the relative losses of food materials in the 



SILAGE. 141 

field curing and the siloing of Indian corn, we 
may say that far from being less economical 
than the former, the silo is more so, under 
ordinarily favorable conditions, for both sys- 
tems, and that therefore a larger quantity of 
food materials is obtained by filling the corn 
crop into a silo than by any other method of 
preserving it known at the present time. 

Necessary Losses in Siloing Clover. — 
Only a few siloing experiments have been 
made with clover, but enough has been done to 
show that the necessary losses in siloing this 
crop do not much, if any, exceed those of the 
green corn. Lawes and Gilbert of the Rotham- 
sted Experiment Station, England, placed 
264,318 pounds of first and second-crop clover 
into one of their stone silos, and took out 
194,470 pounds of good clover silage. Loss in 
gross weight, 24.9 per cent. This loss fell, how- 
ever, largely on the water in the clover. The 
loss of dry matter amounted to only 5.1 jier cent, 
very nearly the same amount of loss as that 
which the same experimenters found had taken 
place in a large rick of about forty tons of hay, 
after standing for two years. The loss of 
protein in the silo amounted to 8.2 per cent. In 
another silo 184,959 pounds of second-crop 
grass and second-crop clover were put in, and 
170,941 pounds were taken out. Loss in gross 
weight, 7. 6. per cent; loss of dry matter, 9.7 
per cent; of crude protein, 7.8 per cent pounds. 



142 MAKIXG AXD FEEDIXG SILAGE. 

In a siloing exj^eriment with clover, con- 
ducted at the Wisconsin Experiment Station, 
on a smaller scale, Mr. F. G. Short obtained 
the following results: Clover i^ut into the 
silo, 12,279 pounds; silage taken out, 9,283 
pounds; loss, 24.4 per cent; loss of dry mat- 
ter, 15.4 per cent; of protein, 12.7 per cent. 

There is nothing in any of these figures to 
argue against the siloing of green clover as 
an economical process. On the other hand, 
in view of what has been previously stated 
concerning clover silage, we conclude that 
this method of preserving the clover crop is 
highly valuable, and, in most cases, to be 
preferred to making hay of the crop. 



CHAPTER lY.— FEEDIXG OF SILAGE. 

Silage may be fed with advantage to all 
classes of farm animals, milcli cows, steers, 
horses, mules, sheep, swine, and even poultry. 
Neither does this enumeration finish the list 
of animals that take readily to silage. Kiihn 
states that not only did the various European 
breeds of cattle in the herd of the Agricul- 
tural College of Halle (Germany) eat corn 
silage with a relish, but this was also the 
case with the long-horned Sanga, directly 
imported from Africa; the Yak. a native of 
the plains of Central Asia; and the crosses 
of Y^ak and Gayal. The corn silage was also 
eaten by all of the common breeds of sheep, 
and by "^ the Asiatic and African breeds; the 
fine-wooled Electoral, Xegrettis, and Ram- 
bouillet, especially, took to it kindly. The 
Mouflon crosses also ate it, but less readily. 
It was liked by goats, and especially by 
those of the Angora breed. The same was 
true of the asses and the mules bred at the 
Halle College. . 

Silage should not be fed as an exclusive 
coarse feed to farm animals, but always in 
connection with some dry roughage. The 

(143) 



144 MAKING AND FEEDING SILAGE. 

nearer maturity tlie corn is when cut for 
the silo, the more silage may safely be fed, 
but it is always well to avoid feeding it 
excessively. 

The silo should always be emptied from the 
top in horizontal layers, and the surface kept 
level, so as to expose as little of the silage as 
possible to the air. It should be fed out suf- 
ficiently rapidly to avoid spoiling of the silage; 
in ordinary Northern winter weather a couple 
of inch layer should be fed off daily. (See 
p. 42.) A convenient cart for hauling silage 
is shown in Fig. 23. 

Silage for Milch Cows. 

Silage is par excellence a cow feed. Since 
the introduction of the silo in this country, 
the dairymen, more than any other class of 
farmers, have been among the most enthusiastic 
siloists, and up to the present time we find a 
larger number of silos in dairy districts than 
in any other regions where animal husbandry 
is a prominent industry. As with other farm 
animals, cows fed silage should receive other 
roughage in the shape of cornstalks, hay, 
etc. The quantities of silage fed should not 
exceed forty or, at the outside, fifty pounds 
per day per head. It may be given in one 
or two feeds daily, and, in case of cows in 
milk, always after milking, and not before or 
during the same, as the peculiar silage odor 




10 



146 MAKING AND FEEDING SILAGE. 

will, in the latter case, be apt to reaxDpear in 
the milk. 

Silage exerts a very beneficial influence on 
the secretion of milk. Where winter dairying 
is practiced, cows will usually drop considera- 
bly in milk toward spring, if fed on dry feed, 
causing a loss of milk through the whole re- 
maining portion of the lactation period. If 
silage is fed there will be no such marked 
decrease in the flow of milk before turning out 
to grass, and the cows will be able to keep ui3 
w^ell in milk until late in the summer, or early 
in the fall, when they are to be dried up pre- 
paratory to calving. Silage has a similar effect 
on the milk secretion as green fodder or past- 
ure, and if made from Avell- matured corn, so 
as not to contain an excessive amount of acid, 
is more like these feeds than any other at the 
disposal of the farmer. 

The feeding of silage to milch cows has some- 
times been objected to when the milk was 
intended for the manufacture of certain kinds 
of cheese, or of condensed milk, and there are 
instances where such factories have enjoined 
their patrons from feeding silage to their cows. 
When the silage is proj^erly x)rex)ared and 
properly fed, there can be no foundation what- 
ever for this injunction; it has been re^Deatedly 
demonstrated that Swiss cheese of superior 
quality can be made from the milk of silage- 
fed cows, and condensing factories among 



FEEDINO OF SILAGE. 147 

whose patrons silage is fed have been able to 
manufacture a faultless product. The quality 
of the silage made during the first dozen years 
of silo experience in this country was fre- 
quently very poor, being sour and often spoilt 
in large quantities, and, what may have been 
still more important, it was sometimes fed in 
an injudicious manner, cows being made to 
subsist on this feed as exclusive roughage. 
Under these conditions it is not to be wondered 
at that the quality of the milk should be 
impaired, and that manufacturers decided to 
entirely prohibit the use of it rather than to 
teach their patrons to follow proper methods 
in the making and feeding of jilage. There is 
an abundance of evidence at hand showing 
that good silage fed in moderate quantities 
will X3roduce an excellent quality of both butter 
and cheese. According to the testimony of 
butter experts, silage not only in no way injures 
the flavor of butter, but better flavored butter 
is XDroduced by judicious silage feeding than 
can be made from dry feed. 

The combinations in which corn silage will 
be used in feeding milch cows will dejjend a 
good deal on local conditions; it may be said 
in general that it should be supplemented by a 
fair proportion of nitrogenous feeds like clover 
hay, wheat bran, ground oats, linseed meal, 
cotton-seed meal, etc. To illustrate the quan- 
tities and combinations in which silage may be 



148 MAKING AND FEEDING SILAGE. 

fed to milch cows, we give below a number of 
practical feed rations published in two bulle- 
tins by the author, viz.: Nos. 33 and 38, of the 
Wisconsin Experiment Station (October, 1892, 
and January, 1894). The former of these pub- 
lications includes the rations fed to the herds 
of milch cows of fifteen Wisconsin dairymen, 
and the latter those fed by one hundred dairy- 
men and breeders scattered over diiferent parts 
of the United States and Canada. Only rations 
which include silage are given here; they are 
the outcome of XDractical feeding experience 
under varied conditions, and may be used as 
guides in making up feed rations for dairy 
cows. While they may not all be theoretically 
correct, they may easily be modified, if need 
be, so as to conform to our best knowledge on 
the subject. 

It will serve as an illustration of the present 
general use of silage among progressive dairy- 
men in our country to state that of the one hun- 
dred farmers contributing the feed rations fed 
to their dairy cows, in the latter bulletin men- 
tioned, sixty -four were feeding silage to their 
stock, this feed being used a larger number of 
times than any other single cattle food, wheat 
bran only excex)ted. 

American Silage Rations for Dairy Cows. 

1. Corn silage, 30 lbs. ; hay, 6 1-2 lbs.; corn and cob meal, 
5 lbs.; ground oats, 5 lbs.; linseed meal, 3 lbs. 

2. Corn silage, 27 lbs. ; dry fodder corn, 8 lbs. ; clover hay, 



FEEDING OF SILAGE. 149 

6 lbs.; oat straw, 1 1-2 lbs. ; wheat bran, 4 lbs.; linseed meal 
4 lbs. 

3. Corn silage, 35 lbs.; hay, 5 lbs.; malt sprouts, 4 lbs.; 
wheat bran, 2 1-4 lbs.; cotton seed meal, 1 1-2 lbs. 

4. Corn silage, 30 lbs. ; cut sheaf oats, 6 lbs. ; mixed meadow 
hay, 10 lbs.; wheat bran, 4 lbs.; linseed meal, 2 lbs. 

5. Corn silage, 30 lbs. ; cut cornstalks, 12 lbs. ; wheat bran, 

3 3-4 lbs.; corn meal, 3 lbs. ; oats, 3 1-4 lbs., with a sprinkling 
of peas. 

6. Corn silage, 32 lbs. ; clover silage, 22 lbs. ; clover and 
timothy hay mixed, 5 lbs. ; wheat bran, 6 lbs ; ground oats, 

4 lbs. ; cotton seed meal, 3 lbs. 

7. Corn silage, 35 lbs.; hay, about 11 lbs.; wheat bran, 
3 1-3 lbs.; ground oats, 2 13 lbs., and linseed meal (O. P.) 
2 1-3 lbs. 

8. Corn silage, 30 lbs ; hay, 8 lbs.; corn fodder, 5 lbs., 
ground oats, 4 lbs. ; pea meal, 2 lbs. 

9. Corn silage, 40 lbs. ; clover hay, 8 lbs. ; wheat bran, 6 
lbs. ; pea meal, 2 lbs. 

10. Whole corn silage, 25 lbs. ; clover hay, 10 lbs.; wheat 
bran, 10 lbs. 

11. Corn silage, 40 lbs, ; clover hay, 5 lbs. ; timothy hay, 5 
lbs.; wheat bran, 4 1-2 lbs. ; middlings, 4 1-2 lbs. 

12. Corn silage, 45 lbs.; clover hay, 12 lbs. ; wheat shorts, 
8 lbs. ; corn meal, 4 lbs. 

13. Corn silage, 24 lbs.; corn fodder, 15 lbs.; clover hay, 

5 lbs. ; wheat bran, 5 lbs. 

14. Corn silage, 40 lbs.; alfalfa hay, 15 lbs. ; wheat bran, 4 
lbs. ; corn chop, 4 lbs. 

15. Corn silage, 35 lbs; hay, 10 lbs.; wheat bran, 3 lbs.; 
corn and cob meal, 3 lbs. ; cotton seed meal, 2 lbs. ; gluten 
meal, 2 lbs. 

16. Corn silage, 50 lbs. ; wheat shorts, 4 lbs. ; grano gluten 
feed, 4 lbs. 

17. Corn silage, 30 lbs. ; clover hay, 5 lbs. ; corn fodder, 3 
lbs.; straw, 2 lbs.; wheat bran, 5 lbs.; linseed meal, 2 lbs.; 
cotton seed meal, 2 lbs. 

18. Corn silage, 40 lbs.; timothy and clover hay, 5 lbs.; 
wheat bran or shorts, 7 lbs. 



150 MAKING AND FEEDING SILAGE. 

19. Corn silage, 40 lbs. ; English hay, 5 lbs. ; clover hay*; 5 
lbs. ; wheat bran, 2 lbs. ; gluten meal, 2 lbs. ; cotton seed meal, 
1 lb. ; linseed meal, 1 lb. 

20. Corn silage, 40 lbs. ; hay, 6 lbs. ; gluten meal, 2 lbs. ; 
corn and cob meal, 2 lbs.; shorts, 2 lbs. 

21. Corn silage, 50 lbs.; hay, 8 lbs.; wheat bran, 3 lbs.; 
wheat shorts, 2 lbs. ; ground rye and oats, 3 lbs.; barley, 2 lbs, 

22. Corn silage, 35 lbs.; clover hay, 10 lbs.; oat straw, 2 
lbs.; corn meal, 5 lbs. ; wheat bran, 5 lbs.; oats, 5 lbs. 

23. Corn silage, 35 lbs.; hay, 7 lbs.; brewers' grains, 20 
lbs.; gluten meal, 1 1-2 lbs.; cotton seed meal, 1 1-2 lbs ; 
wheat shorts, 1 1-2 lbs.; linseed meal, 1 1-2 lbs. 

24. Corn silage, 24 lbs. ; corn meal, 8 lbs. ; wheat bran, 2 
lbs. ; oats, 4 lbs. ; linseed meal, 2 lbs. 

25. Corn silage, 40 lbs. ; corn fodder, 10 lbs. ; cottonseed 
meal, 2 1-2 lbs.; N. P. linseed meal, 2 lbs.; wheat bran, 4 lbs. 

26. Corn silage, 40 lbs ; timothy hay, 10 lbs. ; wheat bran, 
5 lbs.; corn meal, 3 lbs.; linseed meal, 2 lbs. 

27. Corn silage, 50 lbs. ; hay, 5 lbs. ; wheat bran, 4 lbs. ; 
linseed meal, 2 lbs.; cotton seed meal, 1 lb.; ground rye, 1 lb. 

28. Corn silage, 40 lbs.; cotton seed meal, 3 lbs.; corn 
starch feed, 18 lbs. 

29. Corn silage, 30 lbs. ; clover hay, 13 lbs.; wheat mid- 
dlings, 8 lbs. ; linseed meal, 1 lb. 

30. Corn silage, 42 lbs.; clover and timothy hay, 5 lbs.; 
corn and cob meal, 8 lbs.; dried brewers' grains, 1 1-2 lbs, 

31. Corn silage, 30 lbs.; fodder corn, 8 lbs. ; corn meal, 3 
lbs.; wheat bran, 3 lbs.; cotton seed meal, 1 lb. 

32. Corn silage, 50 lbs. ; clover hay, 8 lbs. ; wheat shorts, 
5 lbs. 

33. Corn silage, 30 lbs.; corn stover, 8 lbs.; wheat bran, 5 
lbs.; malt sprouts, 4 lbs.; linseed meal, 1 lb. 

34. Corn silage, 50 lbs.; clover hay, 9 lbs. 

35. Corn silage, 45 lbs. ; mixed hay, 7 lbs. ; wheat bran, 6 
lbs,; cotton seed meal, 2 lbs. 

36. Corn silage, 15 lbs.; sugar beets, 22 lbs. ; hay, 10 lbs. ; 
oats, 5.4 lbs.; corn meal, 7 lbs. 

37. Corn silage, 40 lbs.; clover hay, 8 lbs. ; coarse linseed 
meal, 6 lbs. 



FEEDING OF SILAGE. 151 

38. Cora silage, 30 lbs.; sorghum hay, 13 1-2 lbs.; corn 
meal, 1.3 lbs.; cotton seed meal, 2.6 lbs.; cotton seed, 2.2 lbs.; 
wheat bran, 1.3 lbs. 

39. Corn silage, 35 lbs.; mixed hay, 10 lbs.; wheat bran, 
2 lbs.; corn meal, 3.2 lbs.; linseed meal, 1 lb.; cottonseed 
meal, .8 lbs. 

40. Corn silage, 20 lbs.; hay, 14 lbs.; wheat bran, 3 lbs.; 
gluten meal, 2 lbs. 

41. Corn silage, 30 lbs.; hay, 10 lbs.; corn meal, 2 lbs.; 
gluten meal, 2 lbs. ; wheat bran, 2 lbs. 

42. Corn silage, 48 lbs.; corn and cob meal, 2 1-2 lbs.; 
ground wheat, 2 1-2 lbs. ; oats, 2 1-2 lbs.; barley meal, 
2 1-2 lbs. 

43. Corn silage, 40 lbs.; hay, 5 lbs.; straw, 5 lbs.; wheat 
bran, 4 1-2 lbs.; oats, 4 1-2 lbs. 

44. Corn silage, 15 lbs.; turnips, 45 lbs.; wheat chaff, 7 
lbs.; oats, 2 1-2 lbs.; pea meal, 2 1-2 lbs. 

45. Corn silage, 30 lbs.; hay, 12 lbs.; ground oats, 10 lbs. 

46. Corn silage, 40 lbs. ; turnips, 30 lbs. ; clover hay, 8 lbs 
straw, 1-2 lb. ; oats, 2 lbs ; wheat bran, 2 lbs. 

47. Corn silage, 50 lbs. ; clover hay, 10 lbs. ; straw, 3 lbs 
pea meal, 5 lbs.; oats, 2 lbs. 

48. Corn silage, 30 lbs.: hay, 7 1-2 lbs.; straw, 6 1-2 lbs 
turnips, 25 lbs.; pea meal, 1.3 lbs.; oats, 2.5 lbs.; barley, 
1.3 lbs. 

49. Corn silage, 35 lbs.; English hay, 8 lbs ; carrots, 30 
lbs.; wheat bran, 1.2 lbs.; wheat middlings, 1.8 lbs., cotton 
seed meal, 3 lbs. ; oats, 1 lb. ; wheat, 2 lbs. 

50. Corn silage, 40 lbs.; clover hay, 7 1-2 lbs.; straw, 3 
lbs.; oats, 1 1-3 lbs.; barley, 1 1-3 lbs.; pea meal, 1 1-3 lbs.; 
wheat bran, 3 lbs. ; cotton seed meal, 1 lb. 

Silage for Steers. 

Silage may be fed with advantage to steers, 
in quantities from forty to fifty pounds a day. 
The health of the animals and the quality of the 
beef produced on moderate silage feeding leave 



152 MAKING AND FEEDING SILAGE. 

nothing to be wished for. If the silage is made 
from immature corn, care must be taken not to 
feed too large quantities at the start and to 
feed carefully, so as not to produce scouring 
in the animals. Professor Henry says in 
regard to the value of silage for steer feeding: 
' ' As with roots, silage makes the carcass watery 
and soft to the touch. Some have considered 
this a disadvantage, but is it not a desirable 
condition in the fattening steer? Corn and 
roughage ]3roduce a hard, dry carcass, and 
corn burns out the digestive tract in the short- 
est possible time. With silage and roots, diges- 
tion certainly must be more nearly normal, and 
its profitable action longer continued. Tlie 
tissues of the body are juicy, and the whole 
system must be in just that condition which 
permits rapid fattening. While believing in a 
large use of silage in the preliminary stages, 
and its continuance during most of the fatten- 
ing period, I would recommend that gradually 
more dry food be substituted as the period 
advances, in order that the flesh may become 
more solid. Used in this way, I believe silage 
will become an important aid in steer feeding 
in many sections of the country. Results 
from Canada, Wisconsin, and Texas experi- 
ment stations show the broad adaptation of 
this food for stock-feeding purposes." 

Young stock may be fed half as much silage 
as full-grown ones, with the same restrictions 
and ]3recautions as given for steers. 



FEEDING OF SILAGE. 153 

Silage for Horses. 

When fed in moderate quantities, not to 
exceed twenty pounds a day, silage is a good 
food for horses. It should be fed twice a day, 
a light feed being given at first and gradually 
increased as the animals become accustomed to 
the food. Some farmers feed it mixed with cut 
straw, two-thirds of straw, and one-third of 
silage, and feed all the horses will eat of this 
mixed feed. Some horses object to silage at 
first on account of its peculiar odor, but by 
sprinkling some oats or bran on top of the 
silage and feeding only very small amounts to 
begin with, they soon learn to eat it and relish 
it. Some horses take it willingly from the 
beginning. Horses not working may be fed 
larger quantities than work horses, but in 
neither case should the silage form more than 
a portion of the coarse feed fed to the horses. 
Silage-fed horses will look w^ell and come out 
in the spring in better condition than when fed 
almost any other food. 

Professor Cook says in regard to silage as a 
horse food : "It has been suggested by even 
men of high scientific attainments that sihige 
is preeminently the food for cattle and not for 
other farm stock. This is certainly a mistake. 
If we raise fall colts, which I find very profita- 
ble, then silage is just what we need, and will 
enable us to produce colts as excellent as 



154 MAKING AND FEEDING SILAGE. 

though dropped in the spring. This gives us 
our brood mares in first-chiss trim for the hard 
summer's work. I find silage just as good for 
young colts and other horses. 

Mr. James M. Turner, an extensive Michigan 
farmer and horse breeder, gives his experience 
in regard to silage for horses as follows : ' ' Last 
winter we had nearly two hundred horses, 
including Clydesdales, standard bred trotters, 
and Shetland ponies. They were wintered 
entirely upon straw and corn ensilage, and 
this in face of the fact that I had read a long 
article in a i)rominent horse journal cautioning 
farmers from the use of ensilage, and citing- 
instances where many animals had died, and 
brood mares had aborted from the liberal use 
of corn ensilage. 

"Desiring to test the matter to the fullest 
extent, our stallions and brood mares, as well 
as all the young stock, were fed two full rations 
of ensilage daily, and one liberal ration of 
wheat or oat straw. The result with our brood 
mares was most phenomenal, for we noAv have 
to represent every mare that was then in foal 
on the farm, a weanling, strong and vigorous, 
and apparently right in every way, with only 
one excex)tion, where the colt was lost by acci- 
den t. Of course there may have been something 
in the season more favorable than ivsual, but 
this was the first year in my experience when 
every colt dropped on the farm was saved." 



FEEDING OF SILAGE. 155 

Professors Thome and Hickman give their 
experience in feeding sihige to horses and to 
other farm animals at the Ohio Experimental 
Station: ' ' Our silo was planned and filled with 
special reference to our dairy stock, but after 
opening the silo we decided to try feeding the 
silage to our liorses, calves, and hogs. The 
result was eminently satisfactory. We did not 
find a cow, calf, horse, colt, or hog that refused 
to eat, or that did not eat it with apparent rel- 
ish, not only for a few days, but for full two 
months. The horses were given one feed of 
twenty i^ounds each per day in place of the usual 
amount of hay, for the period above named, 
and it was certainly a benefit. Their appetites 
were sliari3ened, and the healthfulness of the 
food was further manifest in the new coat of 
hair which came with the usual spring shed- 
ding. The coat was glossy, the skin loose, and 
the general appearance was that of horses run- 
ning upon pasture." 

Doctor Bailey states that silage has as good 
an effect on work and driving horses as an occa- 
sional feed of carrots or other roots, and Eew 
informs us that there is a demand for silage in 
London and other large English cities, especially 
for omnibus, cab, and tram horses. According 
to the testimony of Mr. H. J. Elwes, the cart 
horses fed silage "looked in better condition 
and brighter in their coats than usual at this 
time of the year." 



156 MAKING AND FEEDING SILAGE. 

What has been said about silage as a food for 
horses will most likely apply equally well to 
mules, although only very limited experience 
has so far been gained with silage for this class 
of farm animals. 

Silage for Sheep. 

Silage is looked upon with great favor among 
sheep men; sheep do well on it, and silage-fed 
ewes drop their lambs in the spring without 
trouble, the lambs being strong and vigorous. 
Silage containing a good deal of corn is not^well 
adapted for breeding stock, as it is too fatten- 
ing; for fattening stock, on the other hand, 
much corn in the silage is an advantage. Sheep 
may be fed a coujDle of x^ounds of silage in a day 
and not to exceed five or six pounds per head. 
Professor Cook reports as follows in regard to 
the value of silage for sheep: "I have fed en- 
silage liberally to sheep for three winters and 
am remarkably pleased with the results. I 
make ensilage half the daily ration, the other 
half being corn stalks, or timothy hay, with 
bran or oats. The sheep do exceedingly well. 
Formerly I was much troubled to raise lambs 
from grade Merino ewes. Of late this trouble 
has almost ceased. Last spring I hardly lost a 
lamb. While ensilage may not be the entire 
cause of the change, 1 believe it is the main 
cause. It is positively proved that ensilage is 



FEEDING OF SILAGE. 157 

a most valuable food material, when properly 
fed, for all our domestic animals." 

Mr. J. S. Woodward, the well-known New 
York farmer and Farmers' Institute worker, 
who has made a specialty of early lamb raising, 
says, in an address before the New York Agri- 
cultural Society, regarding silage as feed for 
lambs: "In order to be successful in raising- 
fine lambs it is imperative that the ewes and 
lambs both should have plenty of succulent 
food. Nothing can supply the deficiency. For 
this purpose roots of almost any kind are 
good. Turnips, rutabagas, mangolds are all 
good. Corn silage is excellent. Could I have 
my choice I would prefer both silage and roots. 
If I were depending on silage alone for succu- 
lent food I would give four pounds per hundred 
pounds live weight of sheep, all at one feed, at 
the forenoon feed; but when feeding both silage 
and roots I would feed silage in the morning 
and roots in the afternoon." 

Mr. J. M. Turner of Michigan says concern- 
ing silage for sheep : "Of late years we have 
annually put up 3,200 tons of corn silage, and 
this has been the principal ration of all the 
live stock at Springdale Farm, our Shropshire 
sheep having been maintained on a ration of 
ensilage night and morning, coupled with a 
small ration of clover hay in the middle of the 
day. This we found to fully meet the require- 
ments of our fiock until after lambing, from 



158 MAKING AIN-D FEEDING SILAGE. 

which time forward we of course added liberal 
rations of wheat bran, oats, and old-process 
linseed meal to the ewes, with a view to increas- 
ing their flow of milk and bringing forward 
the lambs in the most vigorous xoossible con- 
dition. Our flock-master was somewhat anx- 
ious until after the lambs droi)ped, but now 
that he saved 196 lambs from 122 ewes, his 
face is wreathed in smiles, and he gives the 
ensilage system the strongest endorsement." 
Mr. Turner states that, after becoming accus- 
tomed to the silage, his horses, cattle, and sheep 
would all push their noses down through the 
hay, if there was silage at the bottom of the 
manger, and little or no hay would be eaten 
until the silage was first taken. 

The following interesting experience illustrat- 
ing the value of silage for sheep feeding is 
given by Mr. William Woods, a celebrated 
English breeder of Hamiishire Downs. "Last 
year, in August, I found myself with a flock 
of some 1,200 Hampshire Down ewes, and 
about twelve or fourteen acres of swedes, on a 
farm of 4,000 acres, and these were all the 
roots there were to feed them and their lambs 
during the Avinter. Knowing how we should 
suffer from want of milk after lambing in 
January and February, I thought I would try 
(which no doubt has often been tried elsewhere, 
though not in this district) the effect of ensilage 
on ewes after lambing, having learned by hear- 



FEEDING OF SILAGE. 159 

say that it increased the milk of cows nearly 
30 per cent. I at once set to work to irrigate 
wliat water meadows I could spare, and in the 
month of October had a crop of grass that, had 
it been possible to make it into hay, would 
have made a ton of hay to the acre. I bought 
from the Aylesbury Dairy Company one of 
their Johnson' s ensilage rick presses, and put 
some seventy to eighty tons of cut meadow 
grass under pressure. It must, however, be 
borne in mind that second-cut water meadow 
grass is some of the poorest stuff that is con- 
sumed, either green or in hay, and, therefore, 
my ensilage was not as good, and consequently 
not as favorable a trial, as if it had been made 
of better material. 

^ ' In January, when well into lambing, I 
opened the stack, and began to feed it to the 
ewes that had lambed. At first they hardly 
cared to eat it, but by degrees they seemed to 
like it more. They had a night and morning 
meal of best sainfoin hay, and a small lot of 
ensilage with the cake given at midday. After 
three weeks' trial, what the shepherd observed 
was this : That when best sainfoin hay, worth 
£4 a ton, was put in the cages, and ensilage in 
the troughs at the same time, half the sheep 
would go to the hay and half to the ensilage, 
although there was sufficient accommodation 
for the whole flock at either sort, and we now 
observe that with the ewes that are most con- 



160 MAKING AND FEEDING SILAGE. 

stant to the ensilage, their lambs are nourished 
better than the others. We have not lost a 
single lamb from scour, and have some 470 
lambs from 380 ewes lambed as yet, which I 
think proves the value of the ex^Deriment. As 
soon as the stuff arrives in carts the ewes are 
crazy for it, and almost come over the hurdles, 
so eager are they to get at this new sort of 
feed, which, as I have stated, is only water 
meadow grass ensilaged.' ' 

Silage for Swine. 

The testimony concerning the value of silage 
as a food for swine is conflicting, both favor- 
able and unfavorable reports being at hand. 
Many farmers have tried feeding it to their 
hogs, but without success. On the other hand, 
a number of hog-raisers have had good suc- 
cess with silage, and feed it regularly to their 
swine. It is possible that the differences in 
the quality of the silage and of the methods 
of feeding practiced exj)lain the diversity of 
oi^inions formed concerning silage as hog food. 
According to Professor Cook, Col. F. D. Cur- 
tiss, the great American authority on the swine 
industry, states that silage is valuable to add 
to the winter rations of our swine. Mr. J. W. 
Pierce of Indiana writes in regard to silage for 
hogs : ''We have fed our sows, about twenty- 
five in number, for four winters, equal parts 
of ensilage and corn meal put into a cooker, and 



FEEDING OF SILAGE. 161 

brought up to a steaming state. It has proved 
to be very beneficial to them. It keeps up the 
flow of milk of the sows that are nursing the 
young, equal to when they are running on 
clover. We find, too, when the pigs are far- 
rowed, they become more robust, and take to 
nursing much sooner and better than they did 
in winters when fed on an exclusively dry diet. 
We also feed it to our sheep. To sixty head 
we put out about six bushels of ensilage." 
Dr. Bailey, the author of "The Book on En- 
silage," fed large hogs ten pounds of silage, 
and one pound of wheat bran, Avith good re- 
sults ; the cost of the ration did not exceed 2 
cents per day. He states that clover silage 
would be excellent, and would require no addi- 
tional grain. Young pigs are exceedingly fond 
of the silage. 

In feeding silage to hogs, care should be 
taken to feed only very little, a pound or so, 
at the start, mixing it with corn meal, shorts, 
or other concentrated feeds. The diet of the 
hog should be largely made up of easily di- 
gested grain food; bulky, coarse feeds like 
silage can only be fed to advantage in small 
quantities, not to exceed three or four pounds 
per head, per day. As in case of breeding 
ewes, silage will give good results when fed 
with care to brood sows, keeping the system in 
order, and producing a good flow of milk. 
11 



162 MAKIKG AND FEEDING SILAGE. 

Silage for Poultry. 

Many farmers are feeding a little silage to 
their poultry with good success. Only small 
quantities should be fed, of course, and it is 
beneficial as a stimulant and a regulator, as 
mucli as a food. A poultry man writes as 
follows in Orange Jiidd Farmer, concerning 
his experience in making and feeding silage 
to fowls. Devices similar to that here de- 
scribed have repeatedly been explained in the 
agricultural press. ' ' Clover and corn ensilage 
is one of the best winter foods for poultry 
raisers. Let me tell you how to build four 
silos for $1. Buy four coal oil barrels at the 
drug store, burn them out on the inside, and 
take the heads out. Go to the clover field when 
the second crop of the small June clover is in 
the bloom, and cut one-half ton three-eighths 
of an inch in length, also one-half ton of sweet 
corn, and run this through the feed cutter. 
Put into tlie barrel a layer of clover, then a 
layer of corn. Having done this, take a com- 
mon building jack-screw and x)ress the silage 
down as firmly as possible. Then put on. this 
a very light sprinkling of pulverized charcoal, 
and keep on putting in clover and corn until 
you get the barrel as full as will admit of the 
cover being put back. After your four barrel 
silos are filled, roll them out beside the barn, 
and cover them Avitli horse manure, allowing 



FEEDING OF SILAGE. 163 

tliem to remain there thirty days. Then i^ut 
them away, covering with cut straw or hay. 
When the cold, chilling winds of December 
come, open one of these 'poultry men's silos,' 
take about twenty pounds for one hundred 
hens, add equal parts of potatoes, ground oats, 
and winter rye, place same in a kettle and 
bring to a boiling state. Feed warm in the 
morning, and the result will be that you will 
be enabled to market seven or eight dozen 
eggs per day from one hundred hens through 
the winter, when eggs bring good returns." 



CHAPTER V.-COMPARISO]^ OF SILAGE 
AND OTHER FEEDS. 

I. Economy of Prodviction. 

We shall briefly consider in this chapter the 
comparative value of silage and feeds that may 
take its place in the feeding of farm animals. 
The first x)oint to examine in this connection is 
the question of the cost of production of the 
different foods. Silage may be replaced by 
roots and by dry roughage, like hay of various 
kinds, dry fodder corn, corn stalks, straw, etc. 

Corn Silage vs. Roots. — In our country, 
the comparison of roots and corn silage will 
come out more favorable to the latter feed than 
almost anywhere else, since corn is wonderfully 
well adapted to our climate, requiring a hot 
growing season and an occasional good suj^ply 
of moisture for its perfection; roots, on the 
other hand, do best in a cool and moist climate, 
and yields obtained under such conditions are 
much larger than we can hope to reach in nor- 
mal seasons. This being so, it follows that, if 
roots are considered a more expensive crop 
than corn in countries Avhere they will do best, 
they must be still more so with us. 

(164) 



SILAGE AND OTHER FEEDS. 165 

R. Henry Rew discusses the relative valu?e of 
the two foods from the standpoint of the Eng- 
lish farmer, as follows : ' ' The root crop has, for 
about a century and a half, formed the key- 
stone of arable farming; yet it is the root croj) 
whose position is most boldly challenged by 
ensilage. No doubt roots are expensive — say 
£10 per acre as the cost of producing an ordi- 
nary crop of turnips — and precarious, as the 
experience of the winter of 1887-8 has once 
more notably exemplified in many parts of the 
country. In a suggestive article in the Farm- 
ing World Almanac for 1888 Mr. Primrose Mc- 
Connell discusses the question: ' Are Turnii^s a 
Necessary Crop \ ' and sums up his answer in 
the following definite conclusion: 

'- ' ' Everything, in short, is against the use of 
roots, either as a cheap and desirable food for 
any kind of live stock, as a croj) suited for the 
fallow break, which cleans the land at little 
outlay, or as one which preserves or increases 
the fertility of the soil.' 

"If the growth of turnips is abandoned or 
restricted, ensilage comes in usually to assist 
the farmer in supplying their place. . . . 
When one comes to compare the cultivation of 
silage crops with that of roots, there are two 
essential points in favor of the former. One is 
their smaller expense, and the other is their prac- 
tical certainty. The farmer who makes silage 
can make certain of his Avinter store of food, 



166 



MAKING AND FEEDING SILAGE. 



whereas he who has only his root crop may find 
himself left in the lurch at a time when there 
is little chance of making other provision." 

A number of our American experiment 
stations have furnished data for comparing 
the yields and the cost of production of corn 
silage and roots in our country. The Ohio, 
Maine, Pennsylvania, and Ontario Experi- 
ment Stations raised roots in comparison 
with corn for one or more years. The aver- 
age yields of green substance and dry matter 
are shown in the following table. 

Yields Per Acre of Roots and Fodder Corn. 





Maine 


Pennsylva- 


Ohio 


Ontario 




Station. 


nia Station. 


Station. 


College. 




<u 




6 




V 




6 






o 
























a 




a 




p 






C3 




e3 
































.0 


.2 










,0 

3 






02 


■s 


m 


C3 


02 


c3 


«2 


03 




g 


g 


a 


^ 


a 


f^ 





i^ 
























<u 


>-, 





>, 





>. 


0) 


>. 




fc. 




t^ 


t< 




^ 




(-1 







P 





« 





P 





P 




Lbs. 


Lbs. 


Lbs. 


Lbs. 


Lbs. 


Lbs. 


Lbs. 


Lbs. 


Rutat)a£as .... 


31695 
15375 


3415 
1613 










42780 
55320 


4877 


Mangolds 


16177 


2382 


31500 


3000 


5034 


Turnips. ... 


28500 
17645 
21690 
39645 


2559 
2590 
3110 
5580 


'ii436 
"i8591 








46120 
32663 


4382 


Su<''ar Beets 


2010 
■ '5522 






4737 


Fodder Corn < 




6000 




41172 


8135 



In the Pennsylvania experiments a careful 
account of the cost of growing, harvesting, 
and storing the two crops was kept, with 
results as follows: 

Cost for one acre of beets in the pit $56.07 

•♦ " *' *' " corn in the silo 21.13 



SILAGE AND OTHER FEEDS. 167 

These figures can only be considered approx- 
imations, but it is believed that the ratio 
between the cost for an acre of roots and of 
corn, ex]3ressed by them, is, at all events, not 
too unfavorable to the former. According to 
official statistics, the average cost of raising 
an acre of ear corn in the United States is 
$11.71. The siloing of the whole corn crop 
will not be likely to exceed much the expense 
of harvesting or gathering, housing, and mar- 
keting included in this estimate, and amount- 
ing to $2.98. On the other hand, the cost of 
raising a crop of beets has, in different 
States, been found to range from $31.36 to 
$60 i^er acre. 

Corn Silage vs. Hay. — Two tons of hay 
per acre is generally considered a very good 
crop. The average yield for a number of years 
will seldom exceed 1^ tons with the best farmers. 
Since hay contains about 86 per cent dry 
matter, an average crop of IJ tons means 
about IJ tons of dry matter (2,580 i^ounds). 
Against this yield we have yields of 5,000 to 
9,000 i^ounds of dry matter, or twice to three 
and a half times as much, in case of fodder 
corn. An average crop of green fodder will 
weigh twelve tons, of Northern varieties, and 
eighteen tons, of Southern varieties. Estimat- 
ing the percentage of dry matter in the 
former at 30 per cent, and in the latter at 
20 ]3er cent, we shall have in either case a 



168 MAKING AND FEEDING SILAGE. 

yield of 7,200 pounds of dry matter. The 
expense of growing the crop is, of course, 
higher in case of the corn, but by no means 
sufficiently so to offset the larger yields. It 
is a fact generally conceded by all who have 
given the subject any study, that the hay 
crop is the most expensive crop used for the 
feeding of our farm animals. 

Sir John B. Lawes, of Rothamsted Experi- 
ment Station (England) says, respecting the 
relative value of hay and (grass) silage : "It is 
probable that when both (/. e.^ hay and ensilage) 
are of the very best quality that can be made, 
if part of the grass is cut and i)laced in a silo, 
and another part is secured in the stack with- 
out rain, one might prove as good food as the 
other. But it must be borne in mind that 
while the production of good hay is a matter 
of uncertainty — froin the elements of success 
being beyond the control of the farmer — good 
silage, by taking proper precautions, can be 
made with a certainty." 

The amount of space required for storing- 
one ton of hay or of silage speaks very strongly 
for the latter. One ton of hay stored in the 
mow will fill a space of at least 400 cubic feet ; 
one ton of silage, a space of about 60 cubic 
feet. Considering the dry matter contained in 
both feeds, we have that 8,000 pounds of silage 
contains about as much dry matter as 2,328 
pounds of hay, or 1 60 against 465 cubic feet, 



SILAGE ATsD OTHER FEEDS. 169 

that is, it takes nearly three times as much 
room to store the same quantity of food 
materials in hay as in silage. 

Corn Silage vs. Fodder Corn. — The cost 
of production is the same for the green fodder 
up to the time of siloing, in case of both sys- 
tems ; as against the expense of siloing the 
crop comes that of shocking, and, later on, x)lac- 
ing the fodder under shelter in the field-curing 
process ; further, husking, cribbing, and grind- 
ing the corn, and cutting the corn stalks, since 
this is the most economical way of handling 
the crop, and the only way in which it can be 
duly utilized so as to be of equal value with 
the silage. As an average of five Wisconsin 
farms. Professor King, as we saw, found the 
cost of placing corn in the silo to be 58.6 cents 
per ton, or, adding to this amount, interest and 
taxes on silo investment, and insurance and 
maintenance of silo per ton, 73.2 cents. The 
expense of shocking and sheltering tlie cured 
fodder and, later cutting the same, will greatly 
exceed that of siloing the crop ; to obtain the 
full value in feeding the ear corn, it must, 
furthermore, in most cases, be ground, costing 
10 cents or more a bushel. The advantage is, 
therefore, decidedly with the siloed fodder in 
economy of handling, as well as in the cost of 
production. 

As regards the space required for storing dry 
fodder corn compared with silage, the former 



170 MAKING AND FEEDING SILAGE. 

will take up still more room tlian the hay, since 
it can not be packed so closely, but must be set up 
rather loosely in bundles, to prevent the fodder 
from heating. According to Professor Alvord, 
an acre of corn, field-cured, stored in the most 
compact manner possible, will occupy a sj^ace 
ten times as great as if in the form of silage. 
While hay will contain about 86 per cent of 
dry matter, cured fodder corn often does not 
contain more than 60 and often only 50 x^er 
cent of dry matter ; the quantities of food mate- 
rials in fodder corn that can be stored in a 
given space are, therefore, greatly smaller than 
in case of hay, and, consequently, still smaller 
than in case of silage. 

II. Coiiiparative Feeding' Experiments. 

While the economy of production si:>eaks 
decidedly in favor of silage as compared with 
roots and dry, coarse fodders, it might happen 
that the nutritive materials of the latter were 
sufhcientl}^ superior to those of silage to more 
than make up their greater cost. Such is, 
however, not the case. In comparative feeding 
exx^eriments with the various ci^ox^s, silage has, 
as a rule, produced the better results, or x^racti- 
cally no difference in the nutritive effect of the 
different feeds has been found. We shall 
briefly summarize some of the data at hand 
bearing on this phase of pur subject. 

Silage vs. Roots. — We previously gave the 



SILAGE AND OTHER FEEDS. 171 

average digestion coefficients obtained for green 
and dry fodder corn and for corn silage (p. 130). 
Only a limited number of digestion experi- 
ments have been conducted with roots, but 
enough has been done to ascertain that they 
are highly digestible, the digestion coefficients 
for dry matter found ranging from 78 to 98, 
against about 66 for corn silage. Nevertheless, 
owing to the larger yields per acre of dry mat- 
ter, the total quantity of digestible matter 
obtained from an acre of corn under our condi- 
tions is much larger than that obtained from 
an acre of roots. In the Pennsylvania experi- 
ment, as much digestible matter was produced 
on one acre when grown in corn, as was ob- 
tained from 1.91 acres of mangolds or 2.05 
acres of sugar beets. 

Feeding experiments have been conducted 
with milch cows, steers, sheep, and swine for 
the comparison of roots and silage. 

In feeding experiments with milch cows at 
the Ohio Station, conducted for four consecutive 
years, the silage rations always gave somewhat 
the better results. The average gain in milk 
per 100 pounds of dry matter eaten amounted to 
6 i)er cent in favor of the silage rations. The 
results of the different years are as shown below. 



Pounds of Milk Produced per 100 
Matter Consumed. 


Poui 


^DS OP D 


RY 


Ration. 


1889. 


1890. 


1891. 


1892. 


Beet ration . ... . . 


59 
62 


59 
60 


62 
66 


69 


Silage ration 


76 







172 MAKING AND FEEDING SILAGE. 

Similar exj)eriments conducted at the Penn- 
sylvania Station gave corresponding results, 
the net gain in favor of the silage being 5 per 
cent. 

Steer feeding experiments with roots i)s. 
silage have been conducted at the Ontario 
Agricultural College, where six steers, divided 
into three even lots, were fed as follows: Lot 1, 
corn silage ad libitum^ with about twelve 
l^ounds of corn meal; lot 2, thirty pounds of 
corn silage, about twelve j)ounds of corn meal, 
and hay ad libitum; lot 3, forty-five pounds of 
sliced roots, corn meal, and hay as in lot 2. The 
trial lasted 146 days; the average gains per day 
for the different lots were: Lot 1, 1.90 i)ounds; 
lot 2, 1.53 pounds; lot 3, 1.84 jDounds. The 
total value of the animals at the close of the 
experiments was, $197.07, $188.24, and $189.67 
for lots 1, 2, and 3 respectively, making the per- 
centage gain on investment, calculated accord- 
ing to Canadian prices of feed and labor, 22.7 
per cent for lot 1, 20.0 per cent for lot 2, and 
15.0 per cent for lot 3. 

The Ottawa ExiDeriment Station in 1893 con- 
ducted experiments for the comparison of roots 
and silage as feed for fattening steers, and 
found that a daily gain of 1.05 pounds was 
made on a hay, root, and straw ration, and of 
1.35 j)ounds on a corn silage and straw ration. 
The average cost per head j)er day was 13.78 
cents on the former ration, and 9.26 cents on 



SILAGE AND OTHEE FEEDS. 173 

the latter; calculated per 100 pounds of 
increase, the cost was $13.35, and $6.95 for 
root and silage rations, respectively, /. e., a 
difference of 92.08 per cent against the root 
ration. 

Silage m, roots for fattening lamhs have 
been compared in several e^cperiments at 
Michigan Experiment Station. Sugar beets 
proved superior to silage for lambs in the first 
year's experiment; the conclusion drawn was 
that either feed may enter largely into the 
fattening ration and may be fed with profit. 
In comparing rutabagas with silage for fatten- 
ing lambs the same gain was obtained in both 
cases, viz.: seventeen pounds per week x)er 
head. Although the quantity of grain fed 
was the same, the lambs fed rutabagas con- 
sumed a considerably larger quantity of hay 
than those fed silage, and the amount of ruta- 
bagas eaten as comjiared with silage was very 
large. The iDrofit on the root-fed lot was 22 
cents on each lamb; that on the silage-fed lot, 
63 cents. The silage, therefore, produced the 
same gain in fattening lambs at a greatly 
diminished cost, as compared with rutabagas. 

The relative feeding value of silage and roots 
for swine was studied in a single experiment 
at Ontario Agricultural College. The pigs fed 
silage and grain did not do very well, and 
gained less than those fed grain, or turnips 
and grain. 



174 MAKING AND FEEDING SILAGE. 

Silage vs. Dry Roughage. — A large num- 
ber of experiments have been conducted with 
the various classes of farm animals for the 
study of the comparative feeding value of 
silage and dry roughage, either hay, fodder 
corn, or cornstalks. We can here only men- 
tion a few typical experiments. 

In an experiment with milch cows conducted 
at the New Hampshire Station, where silage 
w^as comjDared w ith hay, the silage ration, con- 
taining 16.45 pounds of dry matter, produced 
21.0 pounds of milk, and the hay ration, con- 
taining 16.83 pounds digestible matter, pro- 
duced 18.4 j)oi^i^^^s milk; calculating the 
quantities of milk produced by 100 i^ounds 
of digestible matter in either case, w^e find on 
the silage ration 127.7 pounds of milk, on the 
hay ration, 109.3 i)ounds, or 17 per cent in 
favor of the silage ration. 

In a feeding experiment with milch cow^s at 
the Maine Experiment Station, in which silage 
was compared w^itli hay, the addition of silage 
to the ration resulted in a somew^hat increased 
production of milk solids, which was not caused 
by an increase in the digestible food materials 
eaten, but which must have been due either to 
the superior value of the nutrients of the silage 
over those of the hay or to the general physio- 
logical effect of feeding a greater variety of 
foods. 8.8 pounds of silage proved to be some- 
what superior to 1.98 pounds of hay (mostly 



SILAGE AND OTHER FEEDS. 175 

timothy), the quantity of digestible material 
being the same in the two cases. 

In another experiment, conducted at the same 
station, where silage was compared with hay 
for steers, a pound of digestible matter from 
the corn silage produced somewhat more 
growth than a pound of digestible matter from 
timothy hay. The difference was small, how- 
ever, amounting in the case of the last two 
periods, where the more accurate comparison 
is x)ossible, to an increased growth of only 15 
pounds of live weight for each ton of silage fed. 

Feeding experiments with milch cows were 
conducted for a series of years by the author 
and others, at the Wisconsin Experiment Sta- 
tion, in which the relative value of corn silage 
and corresponding field-cured fodder corn were 
investigated. The earlier of these experiments 
were made with only a couple of animals, and 
no great reliance can, therefore, be placed on 
the results obtained in any single experiment. 
In later years a larger number of cows have 
been included in the exi^eriment, and this has 
been continued for a sufficiently long time to 
have the animals show what they could do on 
each feed. In 1891 a feeding experiment with 
twenty cows was conducted by the writer, in 
which a daily ration of 4 pounds of hay and 7 
pounds of grain, fed with corn silage or field- 
cured fodder corn ad liMtum, was fed during 
sixteen weeks; a total quantity of 19,813.4 



176 MAKING AND FEEDING SILAGE. 

pounds of milk was produced during the silage 
periods, and 19,801.2 pounds of milk during 
the fodder corn i:)eriods. When the areas of 
land from which the silage and the fodder corn 
were obtained are considered, we find that the 
silage would have x)roduced 243 pounds more 
of milk per acre than the dry fodder, or the 
equivalent of 12 pounds of butter, which is a 
gain of a little more than 3 per cent in favor of 
the corn silage. 

This may appear a very small difference to 
some, but it must be remembered that in this, 
as in all similar previous experiments, the 
fodder corn was handled in the most careful 
manner, so as to avoid losses by fermenta- 
tions or abrasion. It was left in shocks in 
the field for about a month, then carefully 
transferred to the station barn, tied up in 
bundles, and cut before feeding. The results, 
therefore, show what dry fodder can do under 
the most favorable conditions. In ordinary 
farm practice the loss of food materials would 
be no larger in the silo, if as large, owing to 
the small size of the experimental silo then 
used, while the fodder corn, most likely, 
would not be as well cared for, being often kept 
shocked in the field until needed for feeding; 
in a majority of cases not even cut and 
shocked, and often fed whole in the yard, 
with losses of food materials ranging from 
30 to 60 per cent, according to data found at 



SILAGE AND OTHER FEEDS. 177 

the Kansas Station. Cutting the corn fodder 
before feeding, according to Professor Henry's 
experiments, may save more than one-third 
of the food vahie of the fodder. We can not, 
therefore, hope to obtain equally good results 
with silage and field-cured fodder unless 
special pains are taken throughont to guard 
against deterioration of the fodder; precau- 
tions, it will readily be granted, more labor- 
ious and costly than making silage of the 
corn crop. 

A few more experiments illustrating the value 
of silage as a stock food, may be quoted. Pro- 
fessor Henry fed two lots of steers on a silage 
experiment. One lot of four steers was fed 
corn silage exclusively, and another similar 
lot, corn silage with shelled corn. The former 
lot gained 222 pounds in thirty-six days, and 
the latter lot 535 pounds, or a gain of 1.5 
pounds per day per head for the silage-fed 
steers, and 3.7 ponnds -per day for the silage 
and shelled-corn fed steers. Professor Emery 
fed corn silage and cotton-seed meal, in the 
proportion of eight to one, to two three-year- 
old steers at the North Carolina Experiment 
Station. The gain made during thirty- two days 
was, for one steer 78 pounds, and for the other 
85.5 pounds, or 2.56 pounds per head per day. 

The late well-known Wisconsin dairyman, 
Hon. Hiram Smith, in 1888 gave the following 
testimony concerning the value of silage for 

12 



178 MAKING AND FEEDING SILAGE. 

milcli COWS : ' ' My silo was opened December 
1st, and thirty pounds of ensilage was fed to 
eacli of the ninety cows for the night' s feed, or 
2,700 pounds per day, until March 10th, one 
hundred days, or a total of 135 tons, leaving 
sufficient ensilage to last until May 10th. The 
thirty pounds took and well filled the place of 
ten pounds of good hay. Had hay been fed 
for the night' s feed in place of the ensilage, it 
would have required 900 pounds per day for 
the ninety cows, or a total for the one hundred 
days of forty-five tons. 

''It would have required, in the year 1887, 
forty-five acres of meadow to have loroduced 
the hay, which, if bought or sold, would have 
amounted to $14.00 per acre. The 135 tons of 
ensilage Avere produced on 8^ acres of land, 
and had a feeding value, as comx)ared with 
hay, of §74.11 per acre." As the conclusion of 
the whole matter, Mr. Smith stated that " three 
cows can be wintered seven months on one acre 
producing 16 tons of ensilage, while it required 
two acres of meadow in the same year of 1887, 
to winter one cow, with the same amount of 
ground feed in both cases." 

Professor Shelton, formerly of Kansas Agri- 
cultural College, gives a powerful plea for 
silage in the following simple statement: ' ' The 
single fact that the product of about two acres 
of ground kept our herd of fifty head of cattle 
five weeks with no other feed of the fodder 



SILAGE AND OTHER FEEDS. 179 

kind, excex)t a small ration of corn fodder given 
at noon, speaks whole cyclopedias for the pos- 
sibilities of Kansas fields when the silo is 
called in as an adjunct." 



CHAPTER YL— THE SILO IN MODERIS' 
AGRICULTURE. 

In closing our discussion of the making and 
feeding of silage, it may be well to consider 
briefly tlie main advantages of tlie system of 
preserving green forage in silos. In doing so, 
we shall summarize the conclusions j)reviously 
arrived at, concerning the economy of the sys- 
tem, and shall call attention to some points 
that we have not before had an occasion to 
touch upon. The advantages of the silo enum- 
erated below will not be aj^t to hold good 
simultaneously in individual cases ; but it is 
believed that a majority of them will be of 
general importance, thus showing the decided 
superiority of the siloing method over other 
systems of preserving coarse fodders for the 
feeding of farm animals. 

I. The silo enables us to preserve a greater 
quantity of the food materials of the original 
fodder, for the feeding of farm animals, than is 
possible by any other system of j)reservation 
now known. We have seen that the necessary 
losses of nutrients incurred in the siloing pro- 
cess need not exceed 10 per cent, and that by 
beginning to feed from the silo soon after it has 
been tilled, the loss will be reduced to a mini- 

(180) 



THE SILO IN MODERN AGRICULTURE. 181 

mum wliicli may not be far from 5 per cent. In 
haymaking or field-curing of coarse fodders, 
there is an unavoidable loss of leaves and other 
tender parts, and in case of curing fodder corn 
there will be a fermentative loss of toward 10 
per cent, or about as much as is lost in the silo. 
The loss of dry matter will approach 25 per 
cent in ordinary farm practice, and will even 
exceed this figure unless special precautions 
are taken in the handling of the fodder. 

II. Rainy weather is a disadvantage in fill- 
ing silos as in most other farm operations, but 
when the silo is once filled, the fodder is safe, 
and the farmer is independent of the weather 
throughout the whole season. 

III. Less room is required for the storage in 
a silo of the product from an acre of land than 
in cured condition in a barn. Hay placed in 
the mow will take up about three times as 
much room as the same quantity of food mate- 
rials put into the silo; in case of field-cured 
fodder corn, the comparison comes out still 
more favorably to the silo, on account of 
the greater difficulty in x)reserving the thick 
cornstalks from spoiling when placed under 
shelter. 

IV. An acre of corn can be placed in the silo 
at less cost than the same quantity can be put 
up as cured fodder. To derive full benefit from 
the food materials in the field-cured fodder 
corn, it must be run through a feed cutter in 



182 MAKING AND FEEDING SILAGE. 

small portions at a time; tlie corn must, in 
most cases, be husked, cribbed, and either 
ground, cob and all, or shelled and ground. In 
siloing the whole corn plant, the cutting is all 
done at once, thus economizing labor and 
doing away with the separate handling of the 
ear corn. 

Y. Since smaller barns may be built when 
silage is fed, there is less danger of fire, thus 
decreasing the cost of insurance. 

VI. The silo furnishes a feed of uniform 
quality, available at any time during the whole 
winter or year. This is of advantage to all 
classes of farm animals, but ]3erhaps particu- 
larly so in case of dairy cows and sheep, since 
these animals are especially sensitive to sudden 
changes in the feed. 

yil. Silage is of special value for feeding 
preparatory to turning cattle on to the watery 
pasture grass in the spring. The loss in weight 
of cattle on being let out on pasture in spring 
is often so great that it takes them a couple of 
weeks to get back where they were when turned 
out. 

yill. Succulent food is nature's food. The 
influence of well-preserved silage on the diges- 
tion and general health of animals is very bene- 
ficial, according to the unanimous testimony of 
good authorities. It is a mild laxative, and 
acts in this way very similarly to green fodders. 
The good accounts reported of the prevention 



THE SILO IN MODERN AGRICULTURE. 183 

of milk fever by the feeding of silage are 
explained by tlie laxative influence of the 
feed. 

IX. By filling the silo with clover or other 
green summer crops early in the season, a valu- 
able succulent feed will be at hand at a time 
when pastures in most regions are apt to give 
out; then again, tl>e silo may be filled with 
corn when this is in the roasting stage, and the 
land thus entirely cleared earlier than when 
the corn is left to mature and the corn fodder 
shocked on the land, making it possible to 
finish the fall i^loughing sooner and to seed the 
land down to grass or to winter grain. 

X. Crops unfit for haymaking may be pre- 
served in the silo and changed into a i3alatable 
food. This is not of the importance in this 
land of plenty of ours that it is, or occasionally 
has been, elsewhere. Under silage crops were 
mentioned a number of crops which could not 
be used as cattle food in any other form than 
this, as ferns, thistles, all kinds of weeds, etc. 
In case of fodder famines the silo may thus 
help the farmer to carry his cattle through the 
winter. 

XI. Where haymaking is i^recluded, as is 
sometimes the case with second-crop clover, 
rowen, etc., on account of rainy weather late 
in the season, the silo will preserve the crop, 
so that the farmer may derive full benefit from 
it in feeding it to his stock. 



184 MAKING ANn FEEDING SILAGE. 

XII. More cattle can be kept on a certain 
area of land Avlien silage is fed than is other- 
wise the case. The silo in this respect fur- 
nishes a similar advantage over field-curing 
fodders as does the soiling system over that of 
pasturing cattle ; in both the siloing and the 
soiling system there is no waste of feed, all 
food grown on the land being utilized for the 
feeding of farm animals, except a small un- 
avoidable loss in case of the siloing system 
incurred by the fermentation x^rocesses taking 
X)lace in the silo. 

Pasturing cattle is an expensive method of 
feeding, as far as the use of the land goes, 
and can only be practiced to advantage 
where this is cheap. As the land increases 
in value, more stock must be kept on the 
same area in order to correspondingly increase 
the profits from ^he land. The silo here 
comes in as a material aid, aiid by its adop- 
tion, either alone or in connection with the 
soiling system, it will be possible to keep at 
least twice the number of animals on the 
land that was j^ossible under the more i^rimi- 
tive system of i3asturing and feeding dry feeds 
during winter. Goffart's experience on this 
point is characteristic. On his small farm, of 
less than eighty-six acres (thirty-five hectares), 
at Burtin, France, he kept a herd of sixty cat- 
tle, besides fattening a number of steers during 
the winter, and eye-witnesses assure us that he 



THE SILO IN MODERN AGRICULTURE. 185 

had amx)le feed on hand to keep one hundred 
head of cattle the year round. 

According to the testimony of hundreds of 
intelligent, observing dairymen, the silo is 
next to a necessity in modern dairying. It 
is also largely considered so by agricultural 
writers, and by farmers generall}^ It is, 
however, of no less importance where other 
branches of animal husbandry are followed 
more or less as a specialty. This, we think, is 
abundantly proved by the data and the results 
of practical experience and systematic investi- 
gations presented in the i:)receding pages. 
The spreading of silos, therefore, should not 
stop, and will not do so, until dairy and 
stock farmers in the width and breadth of 
our land have become acquainted Avitli the 
siloing system, and are aware of its value. 
It is the hope of the author that this little 
book will, in some measure, help to make 
the system better known and understood 
among the mass of our farmers, and will 
assist them in their efforts to reduce the cost 
of production of their products, and thus 
enlarge the income from their farms. 



INDEX. 



PAGE 

Advantages of the silo 180 

Bays of barn, directions for changing into silos 50 

Beets, cost of, per acre 166 

Brick silos 73 

Chemical composition of silage 120 

Clover as a silage crop 30 

Clover silage 115 

Clover silage, cost of 119 

Clover, time of cutting, for the silo 31 

Clover, yield per acre, of ... 33 

Concrete, directions for preparing 76 

Corn, broadcast sowing of 28 

Corn, cutting of, in the field 93 

Corn harvesters 94 

Corn-land, preparation of 29 

Corn, methods of planting 23 

Corn silage vs. dry roughage, feeding experiments with. . 174 

Corn silage vs. fodder corn 169, 175 

Corn silage vs. hay 167, 174 

Corn silage vs. roots 164, 170 

Corn, siloing of, "ears and all " 103 

Corn, see also Indian Corn and Fodder Corn. 

Cost of beets per acre 166 

Cost of silage 118 

Cost of silos 87 

Cover of silage 108 

Definitions of terms used 13 

Digestibility of silage 129 

Digestibility of Southern and Northern varieties of corn. 22 

Digestion co-efficients for corn silage 130 

(186) 



INDEX. 187 

Digestion coefficients for green and cured fodder corn . . 130 

Digestion co-efficieuts for green Dent fodder corn 18 

Dry silage 113 

Early lamb raising, importance of feeding succulent 

feeds in 157 

Ears and all, siloing of corn 102 

Ensilage 12 

Ensilage, see also Silage. 

Feeding experiments, comparative, with silage and other 

feeds 170 

Feeding of silage , 143 

Field-curing of fodder corn, losses in 131 

Filling, fast or slow, of silos 107 

Filling of silo 93, 105 

Fodder corn and roots, yields of, per acre 1G6 

Fodder corn, compared with corn silage 1G9, 175 

Fodder corn, composition of dry matter of 15 

Fodder corn, green, digestion co-efficients for 18 

Fodder corn, storage room required for, compared with 

corn silage 169 

Fodder corn, yield of food ingredients of 16 

Fodder corn, see also Indian Corn and Corn. 

Freezing of silage 117 

Gould, John, $43 silo of 51 

Grout silos 75 

Hauling corn from field, rack or sled for . . 07 

Hay, compared with corn silage 107, 174 

Hay, storage room required for, compared with corn 

silage 168 

Hills or drills, planting of corn in 27 

Horses, silage for 153 

Indian corn 12 

Indian corn, chemical changes in, with maturity 16 

Indian corn, comparative yields of Northern and Southern 

varieties 21 

Indian corn, development of 13 

Indian corn, increase in food ingredients from tasseling 

to rioeness 1"^ 



188 INDEX. 

Indian corn, varieties of, to be planted for the silo 19 

Indian corn, see also Corn and Fodder Corn. 

Introduction 7 

Lateral pressure in silos 45 

Losses in field-curing fodder corn 131 

Losses in siloing clover 141 

Losses of food materials in silo 131 

Metal silos 79 

Milch cows, American silage rations for 148 

Milch cows, silage for 144 

Pits in the ground as silos 48 

Planting corn, in hills or in drills 27 

Planting corn, methods of 23 

Planting corn, thickness of 23 

"Poultrymen's silos" 163 

Poultry, silage for 162 

Preparation of corn land 29 

Preservation of silos ' 84 

Rack, low-down, for hauling corn 97 

Robertson's ensilage mixture 33 

Roots and fodder corn, yields per acre of 166 

Roots, compared with corn silage 164, 170 

Round barns 60 

Round silos 41, 60 

Round silos, capacity of 72 

Round silos, cost of 90 

Sheep, silage for 156 

Silage and other feeds, comparative feeding experiments 

with 170 

Silage aud other feeds, comparison of economy of pro- 
duction of 164 

Silage cart 145 

Silage, chemical composition of 120 

Silage, cost of 118 

Silage crops 13, 33 

Silage, digestibility of ... 129 

Silage, dry 113 

Silage, feeding of 143 



INDEX. 189 

Silage, feeding of, directly after filling silo 110 

Silage, for horses 153 

Silage, for milch cows 144 

Silage, for poultry 162 

Silage, for sheep 156 

Silage, for steers 151 

Silage, for swine 160 

Silage, freezing of 117 

Silage, objections to, considered 146 

Silage, quantities of, required for diiferent herds 38 

Silage, rations for milch cows 148 

Silage, relation of moisture and acidity in 121 

Silage, sweet vs. sour 125 

Silage, whole vs. cut 98 

Silo, advantages of > 180 

Silo, a primitive wooden 58 

Silo, bottom of 43 

Silo, building, material for 47 

Silo, filling of 93, 105 

Silo, foundation and wall of 44, 62 

Silo, in modern agriculture, the 180 

Silo, John Gould's 51 

Silo, lining of 13 1 , 139 

Silo, location of 43 

Silo, losses of food materials in 131, 139 

Silo, roof of. 47, 66 

Silo, stacks 80 

Silo, when to cut corn for 19 

Siloed fodder, cover of 108 

Silos, brick • 73 

Silos, coal-oil barrels made into 162 

Silos, concrete '^^ 

Silos, cost of 87 

Silos, d-escription of different kinds of 48 

Silos, doors of 69 

Silos, form of 40 

Silos, general considerations 35 

Silos, grout '^'5 



190 INDEX. 

Silos, in the barn 49 

Silos, lining and siding of 65 

Silos, metal 79 

Silos, preservation of 84 

Silos, rectangular and round, statements of cost of 91 

Silos, round wooden 60 

Silos, round wooden, capacity of 72, 90 

Silos, round wooden, cost of 90 

Silos, separate structures of 55 

Silos, sills and plates of 64 

Silos, size of 37 

Silos, stack 80 

Silos, stave 77 

Silos, stone 73 

Silos, ventilation of 68 

Silos, wooden 55 

Sled for liauling corn 98 

Sled cutter for cutting corn 96 

Southern and Northern varieties of corn, digestibility of . 23 
Southern and Northern varieties of corn, comparative 

yields of 21 

Sowing corn, broadcast 28 

Stack silos 80 

Stave silos 77 

Steers, silage for 151 

Stone silos 73 

Storage room required for corn silage and for fodder 

corn 169 

Storage room required for hay and for silage 168 

Sweet vs. sour silage 125 

Swine, silage for 160 

Thickness of planting corn . 23 

Varieties of corn to be planted for the silo 19 

Water, addition of, to surface of siloed fodder 109 

Whole silage 98 

Yields of clover per acre 31 

Yields of roots and fodder corn 166 



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